Dear colleagues,
- UNESCO is associated with the commemoration of historical events and anniversaries of distinguished personalities, which are celebrated by Member States and Associate Members, with the aim of giving them a global significance in accordance with the overall mandate of the Organisation, promoting peace, understanding and rapprochement among peoples, and enhancing the visibility of the Organisation.
- For each two-year period, the Director-General shall send a circular letter to the National Commissions, accompanied by a simplified form (annexed to this document), requesting the provision of detailed and precise information on the request. The circular letter shall be sent no later than 1 September of the first year of the two-year period, the deadline for submission of proposals being 1 December of the same year.
- Requests shall be submitted to the Director-General by Member States through their National Commissions for UNESCO, through their Permanent Delegations or, where there is no National Commission or Permanent Delegation, through the appropriate governmental channel.
- Each Member State may submit a maximum of two requests, one of which should preferably be related to the promotion of gender equality. The inclusion of a gender equality perspective in proposed anniversaries is encouraged, including when it comes to anniversaries that are not specifically dedicated to women.
- Presentation of proposals:
(a) Requests should be submitted as soon as possible and no later than the specified deadline, without exception.
(b) Requests should, where possible, be submitted in electronic format with a view to gradually moving towards fully electronic submission. The Secretariat shall acknowledge receipt of requests submitted by post within 30 days of the deadline.
(c) Requests submitted after the deadline will not be considered.
- Approval of requests. In deciding on a request, the Director-General may take into account:
(a) the assessment of the request carried out by the relevant sector(s) in accordance with the criteria set out below;
(b) the contribution that the celebration of anniversaries can make to the achievement of the objectives of Member States in the fields of competence of UNESCO and within the framework of the main priorities defined in the Medium-Term Strategy (C/4) and the Programme and Budget (C/5) approved by the General Conference; priority may be given to the celebration of anniversaries of individuals and events that can be linked to the priority activities of UNESCO during the biennium concerned;
(c) the need to achieve a fair balance in the distribution of anniversaries, giving priority to Africa, the least developed countries (LDCs), the promotion of gender equality, developing countries, countries in transition and small island developing states (SIDS).
(d) the need to reduce and limit the number of anniversary celebrations to a reasonable number;
(e) the recommendation of the Inter-Sectoral Committee responsible for examining and pre-evaluating requests for commemorations of anniversaries, which shall apply the criteria set out below.
- Criteria for selecting anniversaries
(i) Any proposed anniversary should be clearly linked to the ideals and missions of the Organisation in the fields of education, culture, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities and communication and contribute to the promotion of closer relations among peoples, tolerance and the ideals of peace, cultural dialogue and mutual understanding among peoples. Preference may be given to anniversaries linked to the programme and current priorities of UNESCO and, where possible, to high-level events already planned.
(ii) Anniversaries relating to the birth, independence or institutional regime of a country will not be eligible for consideration; anniversaries relating to military events will also be excluded.
(iii) The anniversary should relate to individuals of truly universal significance, proposed only posthumously, as well as to events of universal scope or at least regional significance, which are unquestionably known beyond the borders of their own country, so as to reflect the ideals, values, cultural diversity and universal character of the Organisation.
(iv) The anniversary shall be a 50th anniversary, a centenary or a multiple thereof, except for the least developed countries (LDCs), developing countries, countries in transition and small island developing states (SIDS), as well as proposals aimed at promoting gender equality and highlighting prominent women, for which anniversaries multiples of 25 years may be accepted.
(v) National, subregional, regional or international events related to the anniversary must be planned in advance and the necessary resources must be provided for their holding in the relevant Member State or group of Member States.
(vi) It is preferable that all anniversaries be proposed by a Member State with the support of at least two other States or a regional group. Any anniversary proposed jointly by more than one State must be submitted by all States concerned.
(vii) Requests relating to works of intangible heritage — including oral traditions and expressions, performing arts, social practices, festive events and rituals, knowledge and practices related to nature and the universe, and traditional crafts — will not be considered, as they cannot be dated in time.
- Consideration of requests by governing bodies
(a) Based on the proposals of the Intersectoral Committee, the Secretariat shall prepare a description of each selected anniversary, which shall include relevant historical and biographical information.
(b) This document shall be submitted to the Executive Council for decision at its first session in the second year of the biennium. The Secretariat shall also inform Member States of the anniversaries it proposes to select or remove from the list, in the latter case providing the reasons therefor.
(c) The Member States concerned shall have a period of two months from the end of the session of the Executive Council to reformulate, if necessary, their requests for anniversaries which have been rejected because they do not appear to meet the accepted criteria.
(d) In addition, within the appeal period, Member States from under-represented or non-represented regions may submit new requests.
(e) At its session preceding the opening of the General Conference, the Executive Board shall decide on new requests and/or requests which have been the subject of appeal or have been reviewed by the Intersectoral Committee and, after reformulation, have been considered by the Director-General to meet the criteria adopted.
(f) The General Conference shall decide on the list of celebrations with which the Organisation may be associated during the following biennium, in accordance with the list adopted by the Executive Council.
- Implementation of activities
(a) The implementation of activities related to the celebration of anniversaries is the responsibility of the Member State submitting the proposal. The request submitted to the Director-General should include information on the specific planned start and end dates of implementation, the estimated costs (in US dollars), the funding provided or expected from Member States or private institutions, and the website/app to be used as a communication tool. Participating Member States shall identify the most significant events in advance of the anniversary and inform the Secretariat in order to allow for their publication on UNESCO’s public website and social media. Member States shall submit information only on these events, using a results-based format.
(b) The Member State should plan at least one subregional, regional or international activity (regional/international conference, exhibition, multilingual communication materials, event/exhibition held at UNESCO Headquarters, etc.). In order to enhance the global reach of the anniversary celebrations, events should preferably be organised in/with the participation of several Member States.
(c) In implementing the activities related to the celebrations, Member States are encouraged to mobilise UNESCO networks in the country/regions concerned.
(d) The results of the events related to the commemoration of anniversaries that are linked to UNESCO’s objectives and priorities and to the Organisation’s major events will be published on the UNESCO website. Activity reports (containing information on the institutional stakeholders involved in the commemoration, the activities implemented, the estimated number of participants, the media coverage and the contribution of the anniversary to UNESCO’s programme and objectives, including the total number of anniversaries promoting gender equality, as well as any other measurable results related to the anniversary commemoration) submitted by Member States after the conclusion of each commemoration will be used by the Secretariat to assess the impact and results of the anniversaries programme and its alignment with the objectives and priorities set by UNESCO.
(e) The use of the UNESCO name and logo for activities approved under the anniversaries programme, in accordance with the directives approved by the governing bodies, will contribute to increasing the visibility of the programme when it is implemented at the national, subregional, regional or interregional level, with beneficiaries providing information on the results achieved in this way.
(f) In accordance with Resolution 58 of the 30th session of the General Conference, any contribution by the Organisation to these celebrations shall be financed within the framework of the anniversaries programme, in accordance with the rules governing that programme. However, in order to maintain a balanced distribution of programme resources, such financial assistance should remain exceptional and be granted on the condition that a priority request be submitted to the Director-General, accompanied by the necessary support in the case of a regional request.
- Conditions for UNESCO’s association with the celebration of the proposed anniversaries
UNESCO shall associate itself with the celebration of the proposed anniversaries only on condition that the applicant State, when submitting its written proposals to the Director-General, accepts the following conditions. The applicant State must:
(a) submit proposals as soon as possible and no later than the deadline set. The Executive Board and the General Conference will not consider proposals submitted after the deadline; thus, the governing bodies will not be called upon to take decisions on proposals that have not been previously evaluated by the Secretariat in accordance with the established procedure;
(b) bear full financial and administrative responsibility for the conduct of the anniversary celebration events;
(c) upon completion of the project, submit to the Director-General a detailed report on the activities, results and benefits for the Member State(s) concerned and for UNESCO. The report must be submitted at the latest before the submission of new proposals. It is emphasised that new proposals for anniversaries will not be considered until the Member State concerned has submitted all the required reports on the activities carried out. All reports on the activities related to the celebrations carried out by Member States must be submitted no later than 31 January of the year following the biennium concerned.
The Board of the ICOM Bulgarian National Committee welcomes your proposals, which may be sent to the association’s email address: bnc_icom@abv.bg
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