UNESCO: Mauritius elected to the Intergovernmental Committee

The Republic of Mauritius is now part of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH: Intangible Cultural Heritage) of UNESCO. It is at the sixth session of the General Assembly of States Parties of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at UNESCO headquarters, where more than 500 participants were present, the Member States elected 12 new members including Mauritius being one. The State of Mauritius, represented at UNESCO headquarters in Paris by a delegation headed by the Minister of Arts and Culture, Santaram Baboo, received the support of member States for the work on the protection and preservation of country’s cultural heritage and commitment to the registration of property, tangible and intangible, on the World Heritage list. The Mauritian government was the second country to ratify the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at UNESCO headquarters. This election is a success for Mauritius in recognising in culture and heritage is an example for regional, continental and small island states. For the Minister of Arts and Culture, Santaram Baboo, this international recognition is the result of hard work of his Ministry in protecting, preserving and enhancing our property whether tangible or intangible. “We received a lot of praise for our commitment in this area. Apart from Morne Aapravasi Ghat and “Sega Tipik” which are already on the World Heritage List, the request for the Bhojpuri Folk Songs will be reviewed by UNESCO experts in November of this year. A team from the ministry is working in parallel on record ‘Sega Tambour of Rodrigues’ and UNESCO has confirmed that this case will be examined in 2017,” he stated.