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Recommendation 2148 (2019)
Safeguarding and enhancing intangible cultural heritage in Europe
1. The Parliamentary Assembly, referring
to its Resolution 2269
(2019) on safeguarding and enhancing intangible cultural
heritage in Europe, recalls that culture and heritage play a fundamental
role in upholding democratic values and strengthening citizenship.
They reinforce cultural identity, deepen understanding of and respect
for others, and nurture respect for cultural diversity.
2. The large influx of migrants in Europe has decisively altered
the ethnic composition of major cities, and consequently redefines
the notion of community and also of intangible cultural heritage
(ICH). In order to deal with this challenge, the Assembly believes
that intangible cultural heritage could offer people not only a
sense of continuity, but also the resilience and positive dynamics
to adapt to rapidly growing cultural diversity.
3. The Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Value of
Cultural Heritage for Society (CETS No. 199, “Faro Convention”)
and the European Heritage Strategy for the 21st Century
(Strategy 21) set an excellent framework for cultural heritage preservation
policies in Europe. In this context, the Assembly considers that
the future development of ICH will require a policy vision based
on these documents, in order to enhance ICH policies and measures
to their full potential, and to provide guidance to the multiple
stakeholders that are emerging across Europe who are committed to
safeguarding ICH.
4. The Assembly calls for greater coherency of action between
the Council of Europe, the United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the European Union in this
area. Accordingly, it recommends that the Committee of Ministers
instruct the relevant bodies of the Council of Europe to:
4.1. encourage integrated activities
between the culture, heritage, education and youth sectors of the Council
of Europe, where possible, to provide guidance to the member States
on innovative ways of interlinking intangible cultural heritage
with the process of strengthening democratic citizenship, including
through heritage communities;
4.2. provide support for member States to exchange good practices
based on the standards and principles of the Framework Convention
on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society, and guidance to develop
models and methods of participatory governance to address the challenge
of setting up fair and feasible heritage community participation;
4.3. acknowledge that ICH safeguarding targets and competences
are covered implicitly by the terms of reference of the Steering
Committee for Culture, Heritage and Landscape (CDCPP) and consider close
co-operation with UNESCO and the European Union in this institutional
framework;
4.4. integrate the safeguarding of ICH in existing activities,
and in particular in the Cultural Routes Programme and in the European
Heritage Days, seeking the active participation of local ICH stakeholders;
4.5. contribute, where possible, to monitoring efforts in Europe,
in alignment with the overall results framework established for
the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
in 2018, with a view to possibly integrating this work into the
Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe and the European
Cultural Heritage Information Network (HEREIN).