Annex 1
Expert Meeting on Documenting and Archiving
Intangible Cultural Heritage
UNESCO – Paris / 12‐13 January 2006
1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background
This paper is meant to give information on the meeting on documentation and
archiving in the field of intangible cultural heritage (ICH) that UNESCO’s Intangible
Heritage Section will organise in Paris on 12 and 13 January 2006. The meeting will
provide a platform for exchange of experiences and reflections on a variegated
subject which has become of primary urgency, since documentation of intangible
cultural heritage is one of the safeguarding measures mentioned in article 2.3 of the
Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Documentation is explicitly mentioned in the Convention as one of the
measures to be used for realising the purposes of the Convention. Documentation
will also be a necessary component in the proposals that will be made by States for
the inscription of intangible cultural heritage elements on the Lists that are
established by the Convention. It will also be essential to investigate the relation
between inventory making and documentation, since all States Parties to the 2003
Convention will have to draft one or more inventories of the ICH present in their
territory. For the text of this Convention (hereafter called “the 2003 Convention”), see
annex 1.
It is important to emphasize, right from the beginning, that all safeguarding
measures mentioned in article 2.3 of the Convention aim at ensuring the viability of the
intangible cultural heritage and that an important characteristic of the 2003 Convention
is its emphasis on the participation in safeguarding measures of the communities and
groups that create, maintain and transmit this heritage.
1.2 Purpose of the meeting
Through the exchange of views and experiences between experts representing
different disciplines and stakeholders such as represent