ICOMOS World Heritage Panel 2022 - 2023

From 22 to 29 November 2022, the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel met at ICOMOS International Secretariat, Charenton-le-Pont, in order to discuss 21 cultural and mixed properties nominated for inscription on the World Heritage List in 2023. 

 

 

 

 

The Panel meeting was divided in three parts.

The first day of the meeting, was dedicated to the presentation of the rules of procedure and the presentation and discussion of the Upstream and Assistance processes that were ongoing at the time.

From 22 to the morning of 24 November, the Panel members examined and discussed the 21 cultural and mixed sites nominated for inscription.

During the second part held from the afternoon of 24 to 26 November, delegations from each nominating States Parties had the opportunity to hold meetings in order to discuss the issues raised with regards to their nominations by the ICOMOS Panel during the first part of the Panel meeting.

During the third and last part of the Panel started on 28 November and lasted until 29 November, Panel members discussed again the nominated properties and adopted provisional recommendations. During this part of the meeting, the content of the technical recommendations was discussed together with the content of the Interim reports and the additional information requests.

Interim reports, as prescribed by the Operational Guidelines, were delivered to each nominating State Party by mid-December 2022.

Before the discussions took place, Panel members rigorously examined a range of documents including the nomination dossiers and additional information submitted by States Parties as well as the ICOMOS technical evaluation mission reports, the desk reviews and information provided by relevant ICOMOS National Committees. All this information was submitted to Panel members two months in advance before the meeting and Panel members were requested to provide a written report with their views on the basis of a template provided by the Evaluation Unit.

Over a period of six days, the ICOMOS World Heritage Panel, composed of international conservation experts from 20 countries, carried out in-depth discussions about the nominated properties in order to consider whether the proposed properties fulfill the criteria required for inscription on the World Heritage List and to draft recommendations, in line with the requirements established in the Operational Guidelines, for the next session of the World Heritage Committee.

The ICOMOS Panel, which brings together some thirty persons, is made up of individual experts appointed by ICOMOS from its networks (ICOMOS Board, representatives of ICOMOS International Scientific Committees, ICOMOS members) and beyond who collectively possess a wide range of relevant cultural heritage skills and experience. The Panel members are selected each year depending on the nature of the properties nominated (e.g., rock art, 20th century heritage, industrial heritage, etc.) and on the basis of geo-cultural balanced representation. The collective expertise of the Panel is complimented by the advice provided by the ICOMOS advisors. They represent the various professional, geographic and cultural sensibilities present at the international level.

Until the 2021-2022 evaluation cycle, the geographical distribution of Panel members was based on the geographical distribution of nomination dossiers received for evaluation. An important change has been introduced in the ICOMOS evaluation procedure, to ensure a more balanced representation of each region.

As of the 2022-2023 evaluation cycle, each of the 5 regions is represented, approximately, by 20% of ICOMOS Commission members.

Each member of the Panel undertakes to attend the whole of the meeting, and to actively take part in the work of the World Heritage Panel. In particular, each Panel member reviewed several files in detail and provided a written report before the beginning of the meeting.

All Panel members must take care to avoid potential perceptions of conflicts of interest. In all cases, an ICOMOS Panel member whose nationality is the same as that of the subject of the evaluation is absent from the discussion and decision-making process. At the beginning of the meeting, all Panel members are required to sign the ICOMOS World Heritage Policy Paper and ICOMOS Commitment of Confidentiality.

The Panel members undertake to respect the confidentiality of the discussions that occur, including the agreed ICOMOS recommendations. In finalizing and releasing the outcomes of the evaluations, communication with States Parties should be conducted solely via the ICOMOS International Secretariat.

The Panel working languages are English and French. Simultaneous translation is provided by ICOMOS through a team of professional translators.

Whereas Advisers’ travel and accommodation expenses are covered by ICOMOS through the World Heritage budget, the ICOMOS officers, representatives of ICOMOS International Scientific Committees and invited international experts are required to cover these expenses themselves. The World Heritage Committee has allocated a supplementary budget to enable ICOMOS to cover part of the participation costs of the invited international experts, in order to ensure a balanced representation of all regions.

An ICOMOS World Heritage Panel met again in March 2023 to discuss the outcomes following the November 2022 Panel, notably the responses received from the States Parties, in order to finalize the ICOMOS evaluation reports which were submitted to the World Heritage Centre.

 

List of 2022 - 2023 Panel Members

ICOMOS World Heritage Panel Chair Persons
Alfredo Conti (Argentina)
Teresa Patricio (Portugal)

ICOMOS Board Members
Adriana Careaga (Uruguay)
Pamela Jerome (USA)
Mario Santana (Venezuela)
Jean-Christophe Simon (France)
Hatthaya Siriphatthanakun (Thailand)
Stacy Vallis (New Zealand)

ICOMOS Scientific Committees representatives
ICAHM: Sam Makuvaza (Zimbabwe)

Invited ICOMOS World Heritage Panel Members
Amel Chabbi (UAE)
Lassana Cissé (Mali)
Michel Cotte (France)
Alissandra Cummins (Barbados)
Matiyas Fantaye (Ethiopia)
Feng Han (China)
Jehad Haron (Jordan)
David Jacques (UK)
Trevor Marchand (Canada)
Tina Paterno (Philippines)
Laura Robinson (South Africa)
Christophe Sand (New Caledonia)
Ahmed Skounti (Morocco)

ICOMOS World Heritage Advisors
Olga Bialostocka (Poland)
Kristal Buckley (Australia)
Luisa De Marco (Italy)
Susan Denyer (UK)
Maya Ishizawa (Peru)
Leticia Leitao (Portugal)
Rusudan Mirzikashvili (Georgia)
Katarzyna Piotrowska (Poland)
Niklas Schulze (Mexico)
Jun Zheng (China)

 

Relationship between nominations and Panel members per region

Region	Dossiers 2023	%	Panel members	%
Africa	1	5	4	18
Arab States	2	9	3	14
Asia/Pacific	6	29	4	18
Eur/NA	10	48	7	32
LAC	2	9	4	18
TOTAL	21	100	22	100