Ms Esther Kuisch-Laroche, Director and Representative of the UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office, was the first speaker. She initially clarified some points of ambiguity on UNESCO’s activities regarding the inscription of heritage, comprising natural, cultural, tangible and intangible heritage, for the media and introduced the relevant international instruments in culture, including the 2001 Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and related protocols, the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, and the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Ms Kuisch-Laroche also explained about UNESCO’s activities in protecting and enabling access to documentary heritage in the framework of the Memory of the World Programme and the inscription of meritorious documentary works on UNESCO’s International Memory of the World Register.
The next speaker was Dr Mohammad Hassan Talebian, Deputy Head of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation (ICHHTO), who briefed the session on Iranian achievements in the area of inscribing world heritage and the impact of inscriptions of heritage on preservation and safeguarding of heritage, as a whole. In parts of his speech, Dr Talebian said “inscription and following-up the inscription process is not the sole objective of the ICHHTO, but introducing the values, public awareness raising, and strengthening public-private cooperation for preserving works that are representative of the identity and history of Iran is what the National Inscription Policy Council seeks to achieve. By highlighting the status of a work in the Iranian history, the Council initially pursues national inscriptions and focuses on the international value of a heritage at a later stage”. Additionally, Dr Talebian briefed the session on the activities of the ICHHTO in safeguarding, capacity building, awareness raising and promoting a culture of peace and integrity.
The third speaker was Dr Farhad Nazari, Director General for inscriptions of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation. He informed the participants about the difference between tangible and intangible heritage and brought examples of each type and finally reported on the activities of the ICHHTO regarding national and global inscriptions. He explained Iran as having 31420 non-movable objects, 94 movable objects, 283 natural sites, and 1209 intangible heritage inscribed nationally and 19 cultural-historical non-movable objects, as well as 10 intangible objects inscribed internationally. Additionally, the speaker introduced the Iranian Qanat and the Loot Desert as proposals of the National Inscription Policy Council for registration in 2016 and the historical city of Yazd as well as Arasbaran Protected Area for inscription in 2017.
Dr Farhad Etemadi, Head of the Communication and Information Department of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO was the next speaker. He began by explaining that human civilisations were based on the preservation and transfer of information and then introduced the Memory of the World Programme and its objectives, including improving the conditions for the preservation of documentary heritage as part of the collective memory of humanity, and facilitating access and introduction to documentary heritage by enabling inscriptions on the Memory of the World Register. The speaker then elaborated on the criteria for inscriptions of documentary heritage, introducing outstanding global value and authenticity of documentary heritage as the main criteria for inscriptions. He continued by introducing Iran’s achievements in this regard as having 9 works of documentary heritage inscribed on the international Memory of the World Register and 4 on the relevant regional register.
The last speaker of the meeting was Dr Abdulmehdi Mostakin, Head of the Culture Department of the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO. He explained that UNESCO does not give identity to our heritage, but helps to identify them and that Iran is potentially rich in diverse cultural resources, including renowned personalities, ranking fifth among the countries whose personalities are internationally commemorated. He further explained that to this date, some 33 Iranian personalities were internationally introduced by UNESCO and that the authorities intend to publish a booklet on these 33 personalities, jointly with the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organisation, the Iranian National Commission for UNESCO, and the Iranian Ministry of Education for integration into school curricula, having a share in introducing and preserving these treasures for the future generations.
A question and answer session wrapped up the Workshop. The participants requested follow-up events, including similar training workshops, to be organised on this topic.