GA2023 – Draft resolutions for the General Assembly - Guidelines for their presentation

The role of the Resolutions Committee set up under Article 44 is to examine and report to the General Assembly on the presented draft resolutions according to the terms of Article 57. It shall have the right to coordinate and to evaluate the presented draft resolutions in order to obtain balance in substance and in form and may in this connection discuss the need for any draft resolution, or its text, with the member(s) or Committee(s) who submitted the draft resolution. In case of non-consensus between the Resolutions Committee and the member(s) or Committee(s), the different points of view are to be presented to the General Assembly.

In accordance with Article 57, 58 and 115:

• All draft motions or resolutions proposed for adoption by the General Assembly must be supported by at least ten ICOMOS members from three different Committees, or by three National Committees or three International Scientific Committees.

• All draft resolutions must be submitted in writing, in both French and English, to the International Secretariat at least two months prior to the opening of the General Assembly, for consideration by the Resolutions Committee.

• Site specific resolutions will only be accepted if an ICOMOS “Heritage Alert Template” has previously been completed and lodged with ICOMOS, and the relevant National and International Scientific Committees, and in the case of World Heritage sites also the World Heritage Units at the International Secretariat, have reviewed the information and provided at least preliminary advice. See more information on our website here.

• Draft motions or resolutions submitted after the above deadline must be referred to the Board for decision in accordance with Article 58 and will only be considered by the Resolutions Committee if the Board decides that they are of an urgent and important nature. Article 58 stipulates that for late submissions no draft motion or resolution will be considered by the Board as being of an urgent or important nature unless it has been proposed and supported by at least fifteen ICOMOS members from five different Committees, or by five National Committees or five International Scientific Committees.

• Those proposing the draft resolution should endeavour to make the draft as simple as possible, so that its purpose is clear and the proposed actions are briefly stated, relevant and within the competence of ICOMOS. (To this end, it is suggested that the part of the draft resolution describing the issue should be three to five paragraphs long, and the operational part one to three paragraphs.). Please refer to the Draft Resolutions Template available on our website.

• Any draft resolution proposed, which in the opinion of the Treasurer or the Director General of ICOMOS has implications in terms of human and/or financial resources, shall not be submitted to the General Assembly by the Resolutions Committee unless the provenance of the resources is specified and they have been committed.

• Article 115 stipulates that any decisions of the Advisory Committee that make recommendations to the General Assembly must be reviewed by the Resolutions Committee of the General Assembly in accordance with Articles 44, 57 and 58.

Drafting and submission guidelines

• Proposers of draft resolutions are invited to clearly indicate what the draft resolution hopes to achieve. Please provide a clear and succinct justification for the proposal. Resolutions should link to the mission and Ethical principles of ICOMOS and, wherever possible, reference to either a previous/current ICOMOS programme or decision should be made, to provide the context for resolutions. Please propose a clear decision/action that ICOMOS will take, and specify to whom the resolution is addressed, and who is asked to implement it. If the draft resolution has an impact on ICOMOS human and financial resources, please specify the resources needed and their provenance.

• Draft resolutions must be submitted in English and French (using the Draft Resolutions template attached), in electronic format (Word document and not PDF). An additional version in Spanish is welcome.

• Please ensure that you include the proposers of the draft resolution and a contact (email and mobile number – also available during the General Assembly itself).

• Please ensure that you include the full list of supporters including contacts.

• For reference, the Resolutions adopted at previous General Assemblies are available on the ICOMOS website on this page.

Only draft resolutions that are submitted using the template, are complete and provide all the details mentioned above – and have sufficient supporters will be considered.

ICOMOS Committees and members wishing to submit draft resolutions are invited to send these to the International Secretariat at GA2023-Resolutions@icomos.org, by latest 25 June 2023.

Extensions to this deadline will not be possible to allow the Resolutions Committee to do its work and ensure sufficient consultation with the ICOMOS membership ahead of the hybrid General Assembly (a calendar of this consultation will be published in due course).