Standard-setting activities dealing with global issues were the great success of the 32nd session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2003. Five instruments concerning intangible cultural heritage, the destruction of cultura1 heritage, multilingualism in cyberspace and human genetic data were adopted. In addition, the process of preparing three other instruments concerning cultural diversity, bioethics and doping in sport were set in motion.

The adoption (without a dissenting vote of the International Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage marked a decisive turning-point in several ways. Most importantly, it filled a gap in the legal system of international cultural heritage protection, which hitherto had been focused exclusively on the safeguarding of tangible heritage. When I was Chairperson of the World Heritage Committee before being elected by Members States to head the Organization, I was deeply concerned about the geographic imbalance among sites included in the World Heritage List. As I delved deeper into this issue, I came to recognize that through its exclusive focus on tangible cultural heritage and natural sites most of which are located in the 'North', the 1972 World Heritage Convention was unable to deal adequately with the living cultural expressions of the 'South'. Since becoming the Director-General of UNESCO in November 1999, I have sought to rectify this situation by embarking on two parallel actions, one in the short term, which is the Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, and the other in the longer term, namely, the preparation of a standard-setting instrument to protect intangible cultural heritage.

The preparation and adoption of this convention led us to revisit our understanding of the concept of 'heritage'. In 1992 in fact, the World Heritage Committee had already accepted the need to recognize the living and continuing traditions which link people and place and had added a new category: 'cultural landscapes'.

Intangible cultural values embodied in tangible heritage sites were increasingly recognized as an integral component of world heritage values. During my chairmanship of the World Heritage Committee, I had endeavored to broaden the scope of 'heritage' to include intangible cultural values, be they spiritual or social, but there is an intrinsic limitation to the World Heritage Convention, which does not deal with intangible heritage as such. In practice, however, all tangible heritage embodies intangible components such as spiritual values, symbols, meanings, knowledge, or the know-how of craftsmanship and construction. Moreover, while many examples of intangible heritage are also closely related to tangible heritage, these tangible aspects are not necessarily of outstanding and universal value, which is the fundamental selection requirement for the World Heritage List. Examples of the proclaimed Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, such as the craftsmanship of Zafimaniry, Madagascar (Proclamation 2003), or the cultural space of the Jemaa el-Fna Square of Marrakesh, Morocco (Proclamation 2001), demonstrate clearly that their tangible aspects are not necessarily of outstanding and universal value. In addition, of course, there are countless other examples of intangible cultural heritage which are not directly related to tangible heritage, such as oral traditions, languages, chanting, dancing, rituals, festive events and social practices. For the above-mentioned reasons, a new convention dealing specifically with intangible cultural heritage was clearly needed.

Thanks to the 2003 convention, the many and richly varied components of intangible cultural heritage are formally recognized as fundamental sources of cultural identity, creativity and diversity. The governments of the States Parties to the convention will establish national inventories of their intangible cultural heritage and will take legal, administrative and educational measures to ensure the safeguarding of their heritage. This heritage, as well as the groups and communities that created and are constantly recreating it, will be able to enjoy the full respect, support and cooperation of the international community. It may seem that this convention was prepared in haste (in just two years) but, in fact, twenty years of profound reflection preceded its adoption. This preparatory phase included the setting-up in 1989 of a 'soft' formative instrument, the Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore.

It is against this background that the majority of Member States urged UNESCO to adopt this convention which pays particular attention to those cultural elements, transmitted from generation to generation in the past but on the verge of extinction today, that are at risk of disappearing forever. This is why it is urgent that this Convention enters into force as soon as possible, which will occur once thirty states have ratified it.

The Director-General of UNESCO
Koichiro Matsura