LHE/20/8.GA/INF.1 - page 79

- Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mali, Mauritius, Mauritania, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Surinam, Sweden, Switzerland, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
- 426. The following States Parties were absent : Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bhutan, Central African Republic, Chad, Dominica, Guinea-Bissau, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Nepal, Papua-New-Guinea, Sao Tome and Principe, Swaziland, Timor- Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
- 427. Thanking the tellers, the Chairperson announced that all the envelopes had been collected and the votes would be counted. The session was duly suspended. The Assembly continued its examination of agenda items 12 and 13.

## ITEM 12 OF THE AGENDA:

FOLLOW-UP ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE RELEVANT RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE OPEN-ENDED WORKING GROUP ON THE GOVERNANCE, PROCEDURES AND WORKING METHODS OF THE GOVERNING BODIES OF UNESCO (RESOLUTION 39 C/87)

## Document: ITH/18/7.GA/12 Resolution: 7.GA 12

- 428. The Chairperson turned to next agenda items 12 on governance and 13 on the revision of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly. Agenda item 12 was the follow-up on the implementation of the relevant recommendations of the Open-Ended Working Group on Governance, Procedures and Working Methods of the Governing Bodies of UNESCO under Resolution 39 C/87, which was supported by Working Document 12. This item was related to the UNESCO-wide exercise on governance. This item would also be addressed in conjunction with agenda item 13 that was also related to the issue of governance.
- 429. The Secretary would first present the background behind agenda item 13 because it was chronologically older than agenda item 12. At its 38th session in 2015, the General Conference had invited all intergovernmental programmes, committees and organs of the Conventions to discuss the follow- up to the recommendations of the External Auditor's report to improve governance through concrete measures. Consequently, at its sixth session, the General Assembly of the 2003 Convention discussed the Auditor's report . The General Assembly noted, in particular, the disparity of the Rules of Procedure of the different organs of the UNESCO culture Conventions. It therefore invited States Parties to propose modifications to its Rules of Procedure and requested that the Secretariat prepare a working document reflecting the proposals received for examination at the present Assembly. Thus, following a letter from the Secretariat on 15 September 2016, proposals from Chile, Czechia, Ecuador, Mexico, Niger and Palestine were received, as reflected in the Annex of working Document 13. The Secretariat considered that this agenda item could not be discussed in isolation because a separate but parallel process had also been initiated between the sixth and seventh sessions of the General Assembly to look at the governance issue at UNESCO. Thus, at the same time as dealing with the report of the External Auditor, the 38th Session of the General Conference had established an Open-Ended Working Group on Governance, Procedures and Working Methods of the governing bodies of UNESCO with the objective of pursuing greater synergy, harmonization, efficiency and impact. This Working Group