07/12/2018 Culture, Science, Education and Media
The Committee on culture considers that intangible cultural heritage (ICH), which includes traditions or living expressions inherited from the past, such as performing arts and oral traditions, must be safeguarded in Europe, yet industrialisation, urban development and the standardisation of lifestyles constitute a context which places such heritage in a vulnerable position.
Unanimously adopting a draft resolution, based on a report prepared by Andries Gryffroy (Belgium, NR), the Committee called on member States to sign and ratify the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage and the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro Convention), and “to develop national strategies for safeguarding and enhancing the role of ICH according to the principles laid down in these conventions”.
Collaborative and participatory platforms to establish inventories of ICH should be created, transmission of ICH through lifelong learning and education stimulated, and urban, local and regional development projects and strategies fostered.
The Committee invited UNESCO and the European Union to cooperate with the Council of Europe in supporting the effective implementation of the UNESCO ICH Convention and the Faro Convention.