UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

06/18/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/18/2021 03:22

UNESCO World Heritage Committee session to be hosted by China after a one-year hiatus

The World Heritage Committee's 44th session will be chaired from Fuzhou (China) and take place online from 16 to 31 July, combining current work and issues left outstanding since last year, when the annual meeting was postponed due to COVID-19. The extended session will be chaired by Tian Xuejun, China's Vice Minister for Education and Director of China's National Commission for UNESCO.

Mechtild Rössler, Director of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre, will be available to answer journalists' questions about the forthcoming World Heritage Committee session at an online information session on 22 June, at 2pm, Central European Time. After registering online, journalists will receive login information by mail).

On 18 July (9.45 am CET), Mr Tian and Ms Rössler will host a press conference that will be streamed online (details to follow).

On 16 July, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay will take part in the opening of the session. during which the Committee will notably examine the state of conservation of 255 sites already inscribed on the World Heritage List(link is external), 53 of which also figure on the List of World Heritage in Danger(link is external).

Starting on 24 July, the World Heritage Committee will start inscribing nominated sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List, beginning with nominations that could not be reviewed last year.