|
Nepal as a country in its entirety can be listed in Heritage List
Keshav Raj Jha, President, Nepal Council of World Affairs
Nepal's quest to achieve her commitment towards Millennium Development Goals, are in affinity with the three main strategic thrusts outlined in Strategic Objectives of UNESCO to attain by 2007. Namely:
• Developing and promoting universal principles and norms, based on shared values, in order to meet emerging challenges in education, science, cultural diversity and communication and to protect and strengthen the "common public good",
•Promoting pluralism, through recognition and safeguarding of diversity together with the observance of human rights.
•Promoting empowerment and participation in the emerging knowledge society through equitable access, capacity-building and sharing of knowledge.
As an organization, UNESCO is almost 60 years old and Nepal's association with this world body is running in 52"nd year. At this juncture, Nepal as a member state have to see not just how the UNESCO charter reads but how well it works particularly in the context of the highly changing world order. The principles of promotion of fundamental rights and freedom, which all the human beings should enjoy, underpin UNESCO's mission in the profound sense. In this respect, keeping the peace, necessary for the promotion of human rights, particularly in Nepali context is highly desirable.
The rapidly changing world presents new challenges to UNESCO, which require more forward looking and pragmatic responses. The deepening of inequalities between the North and the South pose a serious threat to UNESCO's mission to broaden education opportunities and to promote the preservation of cultural heritage. In this respect, UNESCO is at the turning point of its history. The member states must come forward to join this world body to implement the principles of its charter, which ensures opportunities for everyone, regardless of caste, creed and social status, to education, cultural rights and promotion of science for the benefit of humankind.
As a popular Chinese saying goes, "We should keep sweeping and cleaning the rooms so that dirt and dust could be cleared in time"; UNESCO is undergoing a process of reform and renewal in order to adapt to the new realities of a rapidly changing and complex world. Reform requires perspective, instruments and political will. UNESCO is demonstrating that it possesses all three of these qualities, in anticipation of a future in constant flux, and new developments in the structure and governance of the United Nations system and in the general conduct of international affairs. Under the dynamic leadership of Excellency Koichiro Matsurra, I am sure the targets will be met in due course of time without any failure.
To smaller and developing countries like Nepal, UNESCO is becoming more relevant in the context of the evolution of uni-polar world. It should be more efficient and more responsive to the changing environment and should reach to more people than ever before on performance appraisal and reward basis.
UNESCO's efforts in Nepal are highly applauded by the Nepali people, be it in education sector or in conservation efforts. But the state of children due to internal conflict and the uncontrolled urban development has not matched properly with the commitment expressed.
The Kathmandu Valley World Heritage site was included in the prestigious World Heritage list in 1979 and besides Kathmandu Valley, there are three other Nepali sites inscribed on the list, namely, Lumbini and two natural parks: Sagarmatha and Royal Chitwan. The state of conservation of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage site has been a matter of concern for the World Heritage Committee since 1993. The World Heritage Committee at its 27th session in 2003 having examined the Report of the Second High Level Mission to Kathmandu Valley in February 2003, decided to inscribe the property on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The 27th session of' the Committee recommended the State party to legally redefine the core and buffer zones of all the Monumental Zones as well as the management mechanisms including legislation to adequately conserve the remaining world heritage value of the property in the long term. Following the recommendation, a workshop was jointly organized by UNESCO's World Heritage Center, UNESCO Kathmandu office and the Department of' Archaeology in Kathmandu in May last year. There are some significant improvements witnessed in Kathmandu valley Monumental Zones following the latest commitment expressed by the government and I hope it will continue. I am hopeful that the government will not deviate from tile commitment expressed during Bhaktapur declaration that there was a need of separate Ministry of Culture dedicated to conservation of' heritage and Culture, tearing apart the previous trend of adding culture as `tail' of some other ministries. I hope, with the cooperation and guidance of UNESCO and the support of World Heritage Committee, Nepal will regain its previous status soon.
In recent years, Nepal is seen somehow weak in representing herself' in the international forums, upholding previous status. Since Nepal subscribed Membership of UNESCO, it has twice been elected to the Executive board and twice to the UN Security Council. Both the status had brought Nepal into the limelight and the country had in true sense represented the voice of small states in the world bodies.
Human Rights and Democracy are apostles of UNESCO and the UN. It is the lopsidedness of the Nepali leadership and the missions in the past, that Nepal either did not field the candidacy or failed to win elections for the world bodies including that of World Heritage Committee, which would have given Nepal an opportunity to present the country and its lush cultural heritage. As of UNESCO, Nepal was represented to the Executive Board in 70's and early 90's. Nepal was also elected to the UN Security Council twice since 1955. To continue the trend Nepal should stand as candidate, minimum of once in every 10 years, so that Nepal could play significant role and represent to convey and relate the right message and if necessary, to ward-off unnecessary criticism.
There is vast scope in cooperation with UNESCO and other world bodies. But lack of coordination between the ministries, Nepal is seen lost in the cloud of uncertainty and inconsistency in her policies. It is also to be noted that around 63 countries of the world have not yet fulfilled the minimum criteria to be listed in the World Heritage List and Nepal is culturally so diverse that the entire country has the potential to be listed in the list. I am sure that the government will not leave any stone unturned in this regard in the changed context.
|
