Opening ceremony of the sixteenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage © UNESCO/Christelle ALIX

For the second year in a row, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage met using a fully online modality. Mr Punchi Nilame Meegaswatte, Secretary-General - Sri Lanka National Commission for UNESCO chaired the session from UNESCO Headquarters. While the Committee couldn’t take place in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the opening ceremony allowed viewers to grasp a feeling for Sri Lanka’s rich living heritage.

Thanks to the online Zoom platform, this sixteenth session of the Committee convened over five days to make a series of important decisions. Global participation was witnessed throughout the session with 905 participants from 152 different countries registered. Twelve thousand online connections were made during discussions. 47 new elements were inscribed on the Lists.

Through side-events, the online audience was introduced to a newly produced MOOC on living heritage and education. Furthermore, States Parties were encouraged to request International Assistance and additional materials were produced to facilitate this process: a toolkit is now available in English|French. The NGO Forum was able to meet online and organized many workshops.

UNESCO wishes to congratulate Sri Lanka on its successful presidency and is looking forward to the seventeenth session of the Intergovernmental Committee, which shall take place in November/December 2022.

All recordings are now available and new inscriptions can be browsed online.