Unesco urged to move World Heritage Committee session from Russia

The 45th annual meeting, to be chaired by the Russian Federation, is scheduled to take place from June 19 to 30

Unesco is being called upon to relocate its next World Heritage Committee session from Kazan, above, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Reuters

Live updates: follow the latest news on Russia-Ukraine

Unesco is under pressure to move the next session of the World Heritage Committee from Kazan, Russia.

The 45th annual meeting is scheduled to take place from June 19 to 30, chaired by the Russian Federation.

However, after the country’s invasion of Ukraine, Unesco has been called on to stop Russia from hosting the event.

See the latest photos from the Russia-Ukraine crisis below:

Nadine Dorries, Culture Minister of the UK, said the country would not be attending the meeting if it is hosted in Kazan, a city in south-west Russia that is the capital of semi-autonomous region the Republic of Tatarstan.

Europa Nostra, an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding Europe’s culture and heritage, said the Russian Federation “must withdraw as chair of this year’s World Heritage Committee” following “deliberate attacks by Russia’s army which violate the provisions both of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and of the 1972 Unesco World Heritage Convention”.

More than 35 academics and arts professionals from across the globe have signed a letter addressed to the World Heritage Committee members, stating that it is “unacceptable to organise the committee meeting in Russia”, according to The Art Newspaper.

“Planning a discussion on World Heritage in Russia sounds like a mockery of innocent Ukrainian victims,” The Auschwitz Memorial, an organisation that conserves the site of the Nazi concentration camp in Poland, tweeted.

There is no sign that Unesco plans to relocate the meeting, however.

Last month, the UN agency called for the protection of cultural heritage in Ukraine, saying it was “gravely concerned” about the damage caused by the Russian invasion.

“We must safeguard this cultural heritage, as a testimony of the past but also as a vector of peace for the future, which the international community has a duty to protect and preserve for future generations,” Unesco Director-General Audrey Azoulay said.

A spokeswoman for Unesco told The Art Newspaper that the World Heritage Committee decides on when and where its next meeting takes place during its annual sessions.

“The decision by the member states of the World Heritage Committee to hold the 45th session of the Committee in Kazan was taken at the 44th session of the Committee in July 2021 following the invitation by the Russian Federation,” the spokeswoman said. "A change of location of the 45th session can be decided at this stage by the member states of the World Heritage Committee in the governance bodies dedicated to this committee.”

The committee comprises 21 member states, elected from the 194 countries that have ratified the World Heritage Convention. The members states, as yet, have not formally requested the session’s relocation.

An extraordinary vote must be held at the request of at least 14 of the committee members for the meeting to be moved. The decision can also be taken by the committee’s Bureau.

The annually elected Bureau comprises seven member states.

It is currently chaired by Russia.