The Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Audrey Azoulay, hailed, on Monday in Rabat, King Mohammed VI’s commitment to the preservation of cultural heritage.
“The preservation of the vivacity of the heritage owes a lot to the commitment of His Majesty King Mohammed VI”said Audrey Azoulay, who was speaking at the opening of the 17th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
In this regard, she expressed her “most sincere” thanks to the King for “his commitment to culture, for the full extent of UNESCO’s mandate, and more generally, for multilateral action in the service of peace”.
“Behind each of these practices, a whole world, a whole culture unfolds”continued Azoulay, highlighting “centuries of knowledge, exchanges, embodied, living and practiced memory”.
The 2003 Convention is “managed in less than two decades to give another dimension and to reinvent the notion of heritage”she also noted, welcoming the “strong” participation in this session of experts, representatives of NGOs and institutions linked to living heritage.
“When we talk about heritage now, we no longer think only of monuments or natural sites but also of this other fundamental heritage: that of traditions, festivals, gestures that are transmitted from generation to generation and which crystallize in social practices.she observed.
She said to herself “proud” that this living conception of heritage has become almost universal with 180 States being party to the convention, which has led, she said, many countries to adopt new legislation in this area, in particular public policies “hardly imaginable before”.
The choice of Morocco to host the 17th session of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage testifies to the major role of the Kingdom in the adoption of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO on October 17, 2003 and entered into force in 2006, the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is a UNESCO treaty whose objectives are the safeguarding of intangible cultural heritage and respect for intangible cultural heritage of the communities, groups and individuals concerned.
The opening session of this session, which continues until December 3, was marked by the message sent by King Mohammed VI to the participants, which was read out by the Secretary General of the Government, Mohamed Al Hajoui, in presence of the King’s Counselor, André Azoulay, the Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid, and the Permanent Representative of Morocco to UNESCO, Samir Addahre.
