All States Parties to the World
Heritage Convention
Culture Sector
World Heritage Centre
Ref: CL/WHC-23/6 22 August 2023
Sir, Madam,
I have the honour to invite you to the General Assembly of States Parties to the
Convention which will hold its 24th session on 22 and 23 November 2023 during the
42nd session of the General Conference of UNESCO, at UNESCO Headquarters, in
accordance with Article 8, paragraph 1 of the Convention concerning the Protection of
the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
The General Assembly will be called upon, inter alia, to replace the outgoing members
of the World Heritage Committee. In conformity with Rule 13.1 of the Rules of
Procedures of the General Assembly of States Parties to the World Heritage Convention
concerning the presentation of candidatures for election to the World Heritage
Committee, I would like to inform you that the seats of the following 9 States Parties will
become available: Egypt, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria, Oman, Russian Federation, Saudi
Arabia, South Africa and Thailand.
I would be grateful if you could inform the Secretariat at the World Heritage Centre, by
11 October 2023 at the latest, whether your country intends to stand as a candidate for
the World Heritage Committee. Your candidature should be sent by email to my
colleague, Ms. Frédérique Aubert, Chief of the Policy and Statutory Meetings Unit at
[email protected], with copy to
[email protected].
Please note that according to Rule 13.2, members of the World Heritage Committee may
stand for election after a gap of 6 years following the expiry of their previous mandate.
I seize this occasion to recall that Resolution 13 GA 9 of the General Assembly of States
Parties invites the States Parties to voluntarily reduce their term of office from 6 to 4
years. Should you wish to present your candidature to the World Heritage Committee
elections, I should be grateful if you could indicate whether your country will decide to
voluntarily reduce its term of office to 4 years, if elected.
I would like also to draw to your attention that, for a State Party to be eligible as a member
of the World Heritage Committee, the conditions set by Article 16, paragraph 5 of the
World Heritage Convention must be met. That paragraph states that:
"…Any State Party to the Convention which is in arrears with the payment of its
compulsory or voluntary contribution for the current year and the calendar year
immediately preceding it shall not be eligible as a Member of the World Heritage
Committee [...]".
…/…
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
7, Place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France
T: +33 (0)1 45 68 13 15
As per Rule 13.3, the provisional list of candidates - including updated information on
the status of all compulsory and voluntary contributions to the World Heritage Fund - will
be made available to all States Parties at least four weeks before the 24th session of the
General Assembly. Please note that for the sake of transparency, candidatures already
received have been uploaded on the website of the World Heritage Centre and that
information related to the number of seats to be filled during the 24th session of the
General Assembly is also available at the same address:
https://whc.unesco.org/en/sessions/24GA
The modalities for the holding of the General Assembly as well as the working
documents for this session will be made available in due course.
Please accept, Sir/Madam, the assurances of my highest consideration.
Lazare Eloundou Assomo
Director
cc: Advisory Bodies (ICOMOS, ICCROM and IUCN)
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