41st Session of the World Heritage Committee
The 41st session of the World Heritage Committee, meeting in Krakow, Poland, through 12 July, has inscribed 21 new sites to UNESCO’s World Heritage List. Among these were 18 cultural and three natural sites. In addition to the new inscriptions, the Committee also approved five site boundary changes.
UNESCO is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris. Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter. It is the successor of the League of Nations' International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
The World Heritage Committee consists of representatives from 21 of the States Parties to the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, elected by the General Assembly of States Parties to the Convention. The World Heritage Committee was established in 1976 and the first sites (including Kraków) were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1978.
Throughout the 10-day meeting, the committee examined the status of the World Heritage Sites and made decisions based on their observations. The committee focused on the protection of the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Sites.
