The World Heritage Committee is a committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization that selects the sites to be listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the World Heritage List and the List of World Heritage in Danger, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties. It comprises representatives from 21 state partiesAccording to the UNESCO World Heritage website, States Parties are countries that signed and ratified The World Heritage Convention . As of March 2013, there were a total of 170 State Parties. that are elected by the General Assembly of States Parties for a four-year term. These parties vote on decisions and proposals related to the World Heritage Convention and World Heritage List.

According to the World Heritage Convention, a committee member's term of office is six years. However many States Parties choose to voluntarily limit their term to four years, in order to give other States Parties an opportunity to serve. All members elected at the 15th General Assembly (2005) voluntarily chose to reduce their term of office from six to four years.

Deliberations of the World Heritage Committee are aided by three advisory bodies, the IUCN, ICOMOS and ICCROM.Office of the External Auditor for the United Nations Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (2011) Independent Evaluation by the UNESCO External Auditor, Volume 1: Implementation of the Global Strategy for the Credible, Balanced and Representative World Heritage List . UNESCO Headquarters, Paris.

Sessions

The World Heritage Committee meets once a year for an ordinary session to discuss the management of existing World Heritage Sites, and accept nominations by countries. Extraordinary meetings can be convened at the request of two-thirds of the state members.UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Natural and Cultural Heritage (2015) Rules of Procedure. World Heritage Centre, Paris. Download available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/committee/ (27 June 2019) Meetings are held within the territory of state members of the World Heritage Committee at their invitation. Rotation between regions and cultures is a consideration for selection and the location for the next session is chosen by the committee at the end of each session.

SessionYearDateHost city 1 1977 27 June – 1 July Paris 2 1978 5–8 September Washington, D.C. 3 1979 22–26 October Cairo & Luxor 4 1980 1–5 September Paris 5 1981 26–30 October Sydney 6 1982 13–17 December Paris 7 1983 5–9 December Florence 8 1984 29 October – 2 November Buenos Aires 9 1985 2–6 December Paris 10 1986 24–28 November Paris 11 1987 7–11 December Paris 12 1988 5–9 December Brasília 13 1989 11–15 December Paris 14 1990 7–12 December Banff 15 1991 9–13 December Carthage 16 1992 7–14 December Santa Fe 17 1993 6–11 December Cartagena 18 1994 12–17 December Phuket 19 1995 4–9 December Berlin 20 1996 2–7 December Mérida 21 1997 1–6 December Naples 22 1998 30 November – 5 December Kyoto 23 1999 29 November – 4 December Marrakesh 24 2000 27 November – 2 December Cairns 25 2001 11–16 December Helsinki 26 2002 24–29 June Budapest 27 2003 30 June – 5 July Paris 28 2004 28 June – 7 July Suzhou 29 2005 10–17 July Durban 30 2006 8–16 July Vilnius 31 2007 23 June – 1 July Christchurch 32 2008 2–10 July Quebec City 33 2009 22–30 June Seville 34 2010 25 July – 3 August Brasília 35 2011 19–29 June Paris 36 2012 25 June – 5 July Saint Petersburg 37 2013 17–27 June Phnom Penh 38 2014 15–15 June Doha 39 2015 28 June – 8 July Bonn 40 2016 10–20 July Istanbul 41 2017 2–12 July Kraków 42 2018 24 June – 4 July Manama 43 2019 30 June – 10 July Baku 44 2020–21 16–31 July 2021 Fuzhou 45 2022–23 10–25 September 2023 Riyadh 46 2024 21–31 July New Delhi 47 2025 6–16 July Paris 48 2026 19–29 July Busan 49 2027 June 27–July 7 Istanbul

Bureau At the end of each ordinary session, the committee elects a chairperson, five vice-chairpersons and a Rapporteur from those members whose term will continue through the next session. These are known as the Bureau, and their representatives are responsible for coordinating the work of the World Heritage Committee, including fixing dates, hours and the order of business meetings.

Voting Each state member of the World Heritage Committee has one vote. Decisions require a simple majority with abstentions counted as not voting. Votes are delivered by a show of hands unless a secret ballot is requested by either the chairperson or two or more states members.

Members +Current members of the World Heritage CommitteeMember stateDuration2025–20292025–20292025–20292025–20292025–20292023–20272023–20272023–20272025–20292023–20272025–20292025–20292025–20292023–20272023–20272025–20292025–20292025–20292023–20272023–20272023–2027 21

Criticism Increasing politicization of World Heritage Committee decisions to the detriment of conservation aims has been alleged, particularly with regard to new nominations for the World Heritage List, but also with the consideration of sites for the List of World Heritage in Danger. In 2010, states parties including Hungary, Switzerland and Zimbabwe submitted an official protest against such politicization.

An external audit requested by the World Heritage Committee for its Global Strategy of the World Heritage List concluded in 2011 that political considerations were indeed influencing decisions. It observed that the composition of committee representatives had shifted from experts to diplomats in spite of World Heritage Convention Article 9 and found that opinions from advisory bodies often diverged from World Heritage Committee decisions.

In 2016, Israel recalled its UNESCO ambassador after the World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution in a secret ballot that referred to one of Jerusalem's holiest sites, the Temple Mount, only as a "Muslim holy site of worship", not mentioning that Jews and Christians venerate the site.

The committee has also been criticized with alleged racism, colorism, and geographic bias for favoring the inscription of sites in Western and industrialized countries over sites belonging to so-called "third-world" countries. A large proportion of the world heritage sites are located in Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America, where populations notably have lighter skin.Eliot, et al (2012). World heritage: Constructing a universal cultural order. Poetics Journal.Djurberg, et al (2018). Reforming UNESCO's World Heritage. The Globalist.Keough (2011). Heritage in Peril: A Critique of UNESCO's World Heritage Program. Global Studies Law Review.Steiner, et al (2011). Imbalance of World Heritage List: "Did the UNESCO Strategy Work?". University of Zurich.

See also Lists of World Heritage Sites Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention

References

External links

UNESCO World Heritage portal – official website The World Heritage List – official searchable list of all Inscribed Properties