India To Chair World Heritage Committee:
India is set to take the reins as the chair of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee for the very first time.
- World Heritage Committee is a committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
- The Committee is responsible for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund, and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties.
- It has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List.
- It examines reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties and asks States Parties to take action when properties are not being properly managed.
- It also decides on the inscription or deletion of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger.
- It consists of representatives from 21 of the States Parties to the Convention elected by their General Assembly.
- A Committee member’s term of office is six years, but most state parties choose voluntarily to be members of the committee for only four years in order to give other states parties an opportunity to be on the committee.
