World Heritage Committee

The World Heritage Committee meets once a year for an ordinary session to discuss the management of existing World Heritage Sites, and accept nominations by countries.^[3] Extraordinary meetings can be convened at the request of two-thirds of the state members.^[6] Meetings are held within the territory of state members of the World Heritage Committee at their invitation. Rotation between regions and cultures is a consideration for selection and the location for the next session is chosen by the committee at the end of each session.^[6]

More information Session, Year ...

Session[7]	Year	Date	Host city
1	1977	27 June – 1 July	Paris
2	1978	5–8 September	Washington, D.C.
3	1979	22–26 October	Cairo & Luxor
4	1980	1–5 September	Paris
5	1981	26–30 October	Sydney
6	1982	13–17 December	Paris
7	1983	5–9 December	Florence
8	1984	29 October – 2 November	Buenos Aires
9	1985	2–6 December	Paris
10	1986	24–28 November	Paris
11	1987	7–11 December	Paris
12	1988	5–9 December	Brasília
13	1989	11–15 December	Paris
14	1990	7–12 December	Banff
15	1991	9–13 December	Carthage
16	1992	7–14 December	Santa Fe
17	1993	6–11 December	Cartagena
18	1994	12–17 December	Phuket
19	1995	4–9 December	Berlin
20	1996	2–7 December	Mérida
21	1997	1–6 December	Naples
22	1998	30 November – 5 December	Kyoto
23	1999	29 November – 4 December	Marrakesh
24	2000	27 November – 2 December	Cairns
25	2001	11–16 December	Helsinki
26	2002	24–29 June	Budapest
27	2003	30 June – 5 July	Paris
28	2004	28 June – 7 July	Suzhou
29	2005	10–17 July	Durban
30	2006	8–16 July	Vilnius
31	2007	23 June – 1 July	Christchurch
32	2008	2–10 July	Quebec City
33	2009	22–30 June	Seville
34	2010	25 July – 3 August	Brasília
35	2011	19–29 June	Paris
36	2012	25 June – 5 July	Saint Petersburg
37	2013	17–27 June	Phnom Penh
38	2014	15–15 June	Doha
39	2015	28 June – 8 July	Bonn
40	2016	10–20 July	Istanbul
41	2017	2–12 July	Kraków
42	2018	24 June – 4 July	Manama
43	2019	30 June – 10 July	Baku
44	2020–21	16–31 July 2021[a]	Fuzhou
45	2022–23	10–25 September 2023[b]	Riyadh
46	2024	21–31 July	New Delhi
47	2025	6–16 July	Paris
48	2026	19–29 July	Busan
49	2027	June 27–July 7	Istanbul

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At the end of each ordinary session, the committee elects a chairperson, five vice-chairpersons and a Rapporteur from those members whose term will continue through the next session.^[6] These are known as the Bureau, and their representatives are responsible for coordinating the work of the World Heritage Committee, including fixing dates, hours and the order of business meetings.^[1]

Each state member of the World Heritage Committee has one vote. Decisions require a simple majority with abstentions counted as not voting. Votes are delivered by a show of hands unless a secret ballot is requested by either the chairperson or two or more states members.^[6]

Increasing politicization of World Heritage Committee decisions to the detriment of conservation aims has been alleged, particularly with regard to new nominations for the World Heritage List, but also with the consideration of sites for the List of World Heritage in Danger.^[12][13] In 2010, states parties including Hungary, Switzerland and Zimbabwe submitted an official protest against such politicization.^[5]

An external audit requested by the World Heritage Committee for its Global Strategy of the World Heritage List concluded in 2011 that political considerations were indeed influencing decisions.^[5] It observed that the composition of committee representatives had shifted from experts to diplomats in spite of World Heritage Convention Article 9 and found that opinions from advisory bodies often diverged from World Heritage Committee decisions.^[5]

In 2016, Israel recalled its UNESCO ambassador after the World Heritage Committee adopted a resolution in a secret ballot that referred to one of Jerusalem's holiest sites, the Temple Mount, only as a "Muslim holy site of worship", not mentioning that Jews and Christians venerate the site.^[14][15]

The committee has also been criticized with alleged racism, colorism, and geographic bias for favoring the inscription of sites in Western and industrialized countries over sites belonging to so-called "third-world" countries. A large proportion of the world heritage sites are located in Europe, Eastern Asia, and North America, where populations notably have lighter skin.^{[16][17][18][19]}

• Lists of World Heritage Sites
• Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention