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UNESCO's Intangible Heritage Committee meeting opens in Ethiopia's capital

Xinhua, November 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

The eleventh session of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritages opens in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa on Monday.

The meeting, which gathered close to 650 delegates to the east African nation, will focus on traditional songs, rituals, celebrations and know-how.

During the five-day session, from November 28 to December 2, representatives of 24 States Parties to UNESCO's Convention for Intangible Cultural Heritage will examine five nominations for inscription on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding.

Two of the five nominations are from Africa, including Botswana's use of Moropa wa Bojale ba Bakgatla ba Kgafela and its associated practices and Uganda's Ma'di bowl lyre music and dance. The others are from Cambodia, Portugal and Ukraine, according to a press release on the UNESCO website.

Meanwhile, the representatives will also examine 37 other requests for inscription on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

China's Twenty-Four Solar Terms, knowledge of time developed through observation of the sun's annual motion, is one among the 37 requests proposed for the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Ethiopia's Oromo Gada system, an indigenous democratic socio-political system, is also among the nominations for 2016 for the Representative List of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

In his opening remarks, Ethiopia's President Mulatu Teshome, said that his country, endowed with rich and distinctive cultural values, is an ideal place to host the meeting.

The president also called on the global community to protect vulnerable intangible cultural heritages from extinction.

Francesco Bandarin, UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, also said that one of the issues the committee will examine is the effect of conflict and natural disaster on intangible heritages.

The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritages in its 10 years of service has inscribed 336 elements as Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Endit