World Heritage Committee#Sessions

{{See also|List of World Heritage Sites by year of inscription}}

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. Extraordinary meetings can be convened at the request of two-thirds of the state members.UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of the World Natural and Cultural Heritage (2015) Rules of Procedure. World Heritage Centre, Paris. Download available at https://whc.unesco.org/en/committee/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517091432/http://whc.unesco.org/en/committee/ |date=17 May 2022 }} (27 June 2019) 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.

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. 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.

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.

Current members of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee:

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.{{Cite journal|last=Meskell|first=Lynn|author-link=Lynn Meskell|date=Winter 2014|title=States of Conservation: Protection, Politics, and Pacting within UNESCO's World Heritage Committee|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/537352/pdf|journal=Anthropological Quarterly|volume=87|pages=217–243|doi=10.1353/anq.2014.0009|s2cid=143628800|archive-date=26 September 2020|access-date=27 June 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200926224057/https://muse.jhu.edu/article/537352/pdf|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}{{cite magazine | magazine=The Economist | date=26 August 2010 | url=https://www.economist.com/international/2010/08/26/a-danger-list-in-danger | title=UNESCO's world heritage sites: A danger list in danger | accessdate=27 June 2019 | archive-date=31 July 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210731110530/https://www.economist.com/international/2010/08/26/a-danger-list-in-danger | url-status=live }} In 2010, states parties including Hungary, Switzerland and Zimbabwe submitted an official protest against such politicization.

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. 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.

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/10/united-states-us-withdraw-unesco-world-heritage-spd/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321023902/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/10/united-states-us-withdraw-unesco-world-heritage-spd/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=21 March 2020 |title=U.S. to Withdraw From UNESCO. Here's What That Means |publisher=National Geographic |date=2017-10-12 |first1=Michael |last1=Greshko |access-date=2020-03-21}}{{cite web |last=Tress |first=Luke |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/unesco-adopts-another-resolution-erasing-jewish-link-to-temple-mount/ |title=UNESCO adopts another resolution ignoring Jewish link to Temple Mount |publisher=The Times of Israel |date=2016-10-26 |access-date=2020-03-21 |archive-date=21 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321023857/https://www.timesofisrael.com/unesco-adopts-another-resolution-erasing-jewish-link-to-temple-mount/ |url-status=live }}

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.Eliot, et al (2012). World heritage: Constructing a universal cultural order. Poetics Journal.Djurberg, et al (2018). Reforming UNESCO's World Heritage. The Globalist.Keough (2011). Heritage in Peril: A Critique of UNESCO's World Heritage Program. Global Studies Law Review.Steiner, et al (2011). Imbalance of World Heritage List: "Did the UNESCO Strategy Work?". University of Zurich.

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

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• [https://whc.unesco.org/ UNESCO World Heritage portal] – official website {{in lang|en|fr}}
• [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list The World Heritage List] – official searchable list of all Inscribed Properties

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UNESCO Conventions

Category:Heritage organizations

Category:International cultural organizations

Category:Nature conservation organizations

Category:Organizations established in 1977