LHE/20/8.GA/INF.1 - page 83

- election of members of the Committee and in theory the Committee elected technical experts, in the same way as members were elected for the World Heritage Committee. However, it was the permanent delegations who voted, which was not based on the CVs of the experts of the candidate countries, but rather on arrangements and relationships forged between States. Palestine did not absolve itself from this rule, as unfortunately everyone followed it. Thus, in future reflections, the Assembly might consider the CVs and profiles of the experts of the candidate countries so that elections would be based on the technical expertise of candidates and not on political considerations or arrangements. Politicization was not just in the decisions of the Committee but was found everywhere, given that UNESCO is an intergovernmental organization. The Secretariat could therefore perhaps reflect on a standard form of CV that could contribute to the selection of the right candidate.

## ITEM 13 OF THE AGENDA: REVISION OF THE RULES OF PROCEDURE OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY Document: ITH/18/7.GA/13 Resolution: 7.GA 13

- 439. The Chairperson suggested suspending agenda item 12 so as to consider agenda item 13 because the draft resolution on item 12 referred to issues related to the revision of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly. Agenda item 12 was declared suspended. The Chairperson noted that agenda item 13 had already been introduced by the Secretary, and she opened the floor for comments.
- 440. The delegation of the Philippines noted that requests for amendments had been made at the last General Assembly before the creation of the Working Group on Governance, as explained by the Secretary. The interesting amendments submitted by a number of States Parties deserved to be studied and discussed so that other States Parties could understand the rationale and their implications. It was also noted that some of the recommendations did not specifically address all the recommendations of the Working Group on Governance. Nevertheless, a holistic approach was preferred so as to examine the recommendations of the Working Group on Governance together with a view to getting the right amendments prepared so that all States Parties could agree, moving forward. For the recommendations for harmonization across the six culture Conventions, inputs and guidance from the Culture Sector on a cross-cutting manner were sought, as a General Assembly of one Convention could not tell other Conventions what to do. Hence, the discussion should take place at a higher level, and the delegation reiterated the important role of the Working Group on Governance in this regard as it could provide this bird ' s-eye view of harmonization when it reconvened in 2019. The delegation concluded by saying that it had worked together with a number of States Parties to develop draft amendments that tried to move forward in a very constructive way, but without losing the urgency and timelines.
- 441. The delegation of Cuba concurred with the statements made by the Philippines and believed that this revision of the Rules of Procedure of the General Assembly was in line with the recommendations of the Open-Ended Working Group. However, the delegation had some comments regarding the revision of the Rules of Procedure, firstly about the Bureau, secondly about the languages, and thirdly, but more importantly, about the work of the Committee. Regarding the Bureau, the delegation welcomed the amendment put forward by Palestine, which was also the fruit of the Open-Ended Working Group. It was of the opinion that the Bureau was there to organize the work of the Assembly and to fix the dates and order of items on the agenda for the meetings, hence its restricted size. Regarding the working languages and, in particular, Article 11.2, the delegation believed that all the languages of the Assembly should be retained and not just English and French. It understood the financial concerns, but it also believed that there were no major budgetary issues with respect to the ICH Fund. Thirdly, the delegation believed that the intergovernmental nature of the Committee needed to be preserved, noting that Czechia had made an amendment regarding