Report on the Advisory Committee meeting in Marrakesh - 16 October 2019

20191013 085116The 2019 ICOMOS Advisory Committee meeting was held in Marrakesh, at the invitation of ICOMOS Morocco. The meeting was attended by 50 National Committees and 21 International Scientific Committees, 13 Board member observers and 90 Observers.

The meeting was chaired by Mikel Landa (President of the Advisory Committee), and Susan McIntyre-Tamwoy (ICOMOS Australia) was appointed as rapporteur.

It began with Mikel Landa reading the acknowledgement of distinguished members who have passed away over the past year. Christoph Machat (ICOMOS Germany) read a special eulogy for past ICOMOS President Michael Petzet.

The first section was devoted to accountability by all ICOMOS Bodies. Thus, ICOMOS President Toshiyuki Kono presented a report on the Board’s decisions since the last Advisory Committee meeting in Buenos Aires 2018. ICOMOS Secretary General Peter Phillips presented a report on 2018 Buenos Aires Annual General Assembly resolutions. Marie-Laure Lavenir, as Director General, presented a report on the International Secretariat’s activities. Mikel Landa presented a report on the work done by ADCOM along the year, with Douglas Comer (Vice President of the Advisory Committee) doing so with the National Committees and Regional Groups and Sheridan Burke (Scientific Council Officer) with the Scientific Council.

A second section followed with major ICOMOS initiatives:

The third section was titled ICOMOS at Work and included:

A process of appointment took place for Annual General Assembly 2019 Officers and General Assembly 2020 Committees (see resolutions and minutes of the 2019 AGA).

The Board also appoint the Travel Grants Committee for the 2020 General Assembly: Grellan Rourke (Ireland), Laura Robinson (South Africa), Ariana Patino (Colombia), Eran Mordohovich (Israel), Said  Al Salmi (Oman), Mikel Landa (ADCOM President), an ISC representative or Scientific Council Officer to be appointed.

As well as the Gazzola Prize & Honorary Membership Committee: Sofia Avgerinou-Kolonias (Greece), Gustavo Araoz (USA), Hae Un Rii (Korea), Saleh Lamei (Egypt) – former recipient, Olga Orive (Mexico).

Under the section Doctrinal Texts under development, four International Scientific Committees presented their documents or charters, each of them at a different point of the adoption process:

An introduction was made by Chair Patricia O’Donnell, of the 2019 Scientific Symposium “Rural Heritage: landscapes and beyond”, to be held in Marrakesh the following day (click here to access the Symposium's website).

Richard Mackay, presented the 2020 Scientific Symposium “Shared Cultures-Shared Heritage-Shared Responsibility” to be held in Sydney (you can read more information about the GA2020 Symposium here).

Regarding the official request to ICOMOS Board for the establishment of ICOMOS Puerto Rico National Committee, the Advisory Committee noted that after further discussion between the members from Puerto Rico and the President of US/ICOMOS, a solution agreeable to both parties had been determined, involving the establishment of a regional unit within US/ICOMOS. The parties will continue to discuss the details of the proposed arrangement.

Mikel Landa thanked everyone for attending and contributing despite the technical problems, and also thanked the rapporteur and the Secretariat for their assistance.

Finally, an unanimous vote of thanks was given to ICOMOS Maroc. President of ICOMOS Maroc, Mr Lahlou Abdelati responded with his appreciation that we were meeting here and hoped this would herald a greater attention on the heritage of the region.

 

Photo credits: ICOMOS


See also

Picto doigtMore information about the 2019 ICOMOS meetings in Marrakesh

Picto doigtReport on the National Committees meeting in Marrakesh

Picto doigtReport of the Scientific Council in Marrakesh