Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ich Ig Com.11
Ich Ig Com.11
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impacts of commercialization and the need to avoid any danger of de-
contextualization of the element as a result of increased tourism;
R.3: Various parties concerned, with State support, have taken measures to ensure the
viability of the element, including propagating the traditional puppet plays through
print media, participating at international puppet festivals, establishing a puppet
museum to conduct research and training, and arranging lectures for school and
university students. Proposed safeguarding measures focus on protection (revision
of the intellectual property law), documentation, training of young people, and
dissemination to a large public through tourism. More details are, however, needed
as to the ways in which the relevant community has been involved in the
development of these measures, while ensuring that the element is not frozen in
time, but allowed to be constantly re-created. The possible negative effects resulting
from tourism and commercialization need to be addressed with preventive or
mitigating measures;
R.4: A wide variety of people worked with government agencies on the nomination
process. The evidence submitted to attest to consent to the nomination is, however,
primarily from organizations/institutions, rather than from communities concerned. It
is also important to clearly present the consent of the Gamwari community (bearers
of the element), particularly since one of the proposed safeguarding measures is ‘to
train non Gamwari people’;
R.5: The submitting State indicates that the element has been included on the National
Inventory of Intangible Heritage of Sri Lanka, maintained by the Ministry of Cultural
Affairs and the Arts, and an excerpt has been appended. No information is,
however, provided regarding the participation of communities, groups and relevant
non-governmental organizations in the preparation of this entry. Information is also
required on proposed future updates of the inventory.
4. Decides to refer the nomination of Traditional art of string puppetry in Sri Lanka to the
submitting State and invites it to resubmit the nomination to the Committee for
examination during a following cycle;
5. Encourages the submitting State, should it wish to resubmit the nomination, to provide a
translation of lyrics played in the video in English or French, as well as to avoid the use of
inappropriate wording such as ‘unique’.