The 12th Session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

The venue of the 12th session of the Intergovernmental Committee

 The 12th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage was held in Jeju, the Republic of Korea, from December 4th through December 9th, 2017, which three researchers of this Institute attended.
 As the number of agendas to be addressed at the Intergovernmental Committee has increased in recent years, the session took place over six days, one day longer than the last session. At this session, six elements were newly inscribed on the “List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding,” while 33 elements were inscribed on the “Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.” This time, Japan did not propose any elements.
 In the discussion under the Agenda 15 “intangible cultural heritage in emergencies,” the Japanese delegation introduced two cases: “disaster prevention for intangible cultural heritage,” which this Institute has been working on, and “Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage under Natural Disasters and Armed Conflicts in the Asia-Pacific Region,” which the International Research Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia-Pacific Region (IRCI) has been tackling. We distributed brochures titled “Disaster Prevention for Intangible Cultural Heritage,” prepared by the Department of Intangible Cultural Heritage of the Institute in March 2017.
 The issue of how to safeguard intangible cultural heritage from natural disasters has been attracting global attention. Under the circumstances, the Institute has accumulated numerous experiences on protecting cultural heritage from disasters through rescuing cultural properties after the Great East Japan Earthquake, supporting recovery from the March 11 Earthquake, and establishing the Intangible Cultural Heritage Archives. We think it is an important role for this Institute to contribute to the international community by disseminating these outcomes.

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