UNESCO Flags Traditional Arts and Crafts for Immediate Protection
Recently, UNESCO has taken a significant step to protect endangered living traditions by inscribing several traditional arts and crafts on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. This action draws global attention to cultural practices that face extinction due to social, economic, and technological changes.
Under the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, intangible heritage includes practices, knowledge, skills, expressions, rituals, performing arts, oral traditions, and traditional craftsmanship that communities recognise as part of their cultural identity. Unlike monuments or sites, these traditions are living and dynamic, transmitted across generations and constantly evolving.
The Convention operates through three mechanisms:
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