The Declaration of AI Akhawayn (1999)

2016-02-07 Sunney Collections, ORCP 4

Forum UNESCO - University and Heritage (FUUH) . Higher education is crucial to the long-term preservation of World Heritage sites. As the World Heritage List grows, there is an urgent need for qualified professionals to manage every aspect of the sites, from conservation and preservation to tourism and interaction with local communities.

Preface:  The Declaration of AI Akhawayn (1999) was adopted by the 4th International Seminar Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH), AI Akhawavn University, lfrane, Morocco, 5-10 December, 1999.

“The participants decide on the adoption and signature by the Vice-Chancellors and Presidents of university of a Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage Charter confirming their ethical commitment and objectives and defining the responsibilities and complementary roles of the various partners. They also decide the implementation of thematic workshops, the strengthening and development of students’ associations through national and international youth summer camps and the strengthening of cooperation between universities and heritage practitioners”.

What’s Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH) ?

International Network Forum UNESCO - University and Heritage. Forum UNESCO - University and Heritage (FUUH) has created the UNESCO Chair ‘Forum University and Heritage’, by the agreement signed between UNESCO and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV, Spain) in 2013.
International Network Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage. Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH) has created the UNESCO Chair ‘Forum University and Heritage’, by the agreement signed between UNESCO and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV, Spain) in 2013.

Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH) is a UNESCO project for undertaking activities to protect and safeguard the cultural and natural heritage, through an international network of higher education. FUUH is under the joint responsibility of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) Spain.

Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage aims to be informed or to disseminate information widely about disaster and risk mitigation and management news and activities implemented by universities through the use of the network database freely accessible online.

To this date, International Seminars have been organized, in Valencia, Spain (1996 & 2001); Quebec, Canada (1997); Melbourne, Australia (1998); AI Akhawayn, Morocco (1999); Byblos and Beirut, Lebanon (2000); Amman, Petra and Irbid, Jordan (2002); San Cristobal de La Laguna, Spain (2003); Buenos Aires, Argentina (2004); Newcastle, United Kingdom (2005) and Florence, Italy (2006).  Most important resulting documents have been brought out:

What’s UNESCO Chair Forum University and Heritage?

upv_unesco_chair

The UNESCO Chair Forum University and Heritage, established in July 2013, brings the experience in the management of the international network in the field of higher education “Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage” (FUUH) created in 1995 through an agreement between UNESCO and the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) with the aim of involving professors, researchers, students and professionals around the world in activities in favour of protection and safeguard of the cultural and natural heritage respecting UNESCO’s ideals.

With this goal and throughout this time, the FUUH network has carried out numerous workshops, exhibitions, publications, training courses and projects, especially highlighting their International Seminars. These activities have counted with the participation of worldwide heritage specialists and commitment of universities through institutional agreements.

The UNESCO Chair Forum University and Heritage expresses the commitment of the UPV to continue contributing to the preservation and enhancement of heritage through the cooperation between universities and promoting the growth and exchange of knowledge in the FUUH network, nowadays coordinated in collaboration with the World Heritage Centre (WHC) of UNESCO and has currently more than 3,000 individual members from 130 countries worldwide.

Moreover, all 5 key functions of UNESCO are represented in this Chair through its activities:

  • Capacity-building
  • Clearing House
  • Laboratory of Ideas
  • Standard-setting
  • International cooperation

In this context, the work area and objectives of the UNESCO Chair contribute to:

  • Encourage cooperation in higher education, the sciences, culture, communication and information, being common to the UNESCO Medium-term Strategy 2014-2021, in particular with the following strategic objectives:
    • Promoting international scientific cooperation on critical challenges to sustainable development.
    • Supporting inclusive social development, fostering intercultural dialogue for the rapprochement of cultures and promoting ethical principles.
    • Protecting, promoting and transmitting heritage.
    • Fostering creativity and the diversity of cultural expressions.
    • Promoting freedom of expression, media development and access to information and knowledge using the ICTs.
  • The protection of heritage, considering its diversity (natural and cultural, movable and immovable, tangible and intangible), taking into account its diverse forms and its triple function: identity, vector of development and instrument of reconciliation.
  • The dissemination and the implementation of international conventions related to the protection of cultural heritage (1954, 1970, 1972 and 2001), natural heritage (1972) and intangible heritage (2003), notably reinforcing the strategic objective of UNESCO to “Sustainable Protection  and enhancement of  cultural heritage”.
Category
Declaration

Date

1999

Promulgation

The 4th International Seminar Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage (FUUH), AI Akhawavn University, lfrane, Morocco, 5-10 December, 1999.

Descriptions

  • The resulting declaration reiterates the objectives of the international network of universities that have programs related to tangible and intangible heritage and outlines commitments to expand the network. These include strengthening training of university students, sharing and exchanging knowledge and skills, increasing public awareness of the importance of cultural heritage, and strengthening cooperation with organizations responsible for cultural heritage including ICOMOS, ICOM, and WMF.
  • The Declaration also recommends that teaching programs include cultural heritage law in their curriculum and strengthen international cooperation through training programs, scholarship and fellowships.
  • The Declaration also calls upon to strengthen initiatives taken at the Ifrane seminar through creation of a UNESCO Chair which would also include a programme for the sensitization of decision-makers and research grants, and to exploit the substantial potential of that University, namely the rich cultural heritage of Morocco in interaction with the international expertise of specialists of the Moroccan heritage.

Source

http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=4950&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

Download

 http://www.forumunescochair.upv.es/eng/catedra_unesco_upv/resoluciones/doc/1999ifrane_eng.pdf

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The Declaration of AI Akhawayn

Forum UNESCO – University and Heritage
Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco, 8 December 1999

The presidents, rectors, deans, professors and students of the universities, the persons in charge of the heritage from 36 countries on the five continents, and representatives of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) International Conservation Centre for Restoration of Monuments (ICCROM), and the International Union of Architects and the International Association of Universities (IAU), meeting in Ifrane and Fez,

EXPRESSING THEIR GRATITUDE for the substantial support provided by the Moroccan authorities and by the University of Al Akhawayn and ADER-Fez,

APPRECIATING the progress made in the project for safeguarding the Medina of Fez, an excellent site where universities could acquire operational experience thanks to an integrated multidisciplinary and multi-institutional approach for the safeguarding of the heritage,

NOTING WITH SATISFACTION the official commitment made by the rectors of the universities and confirmed by the Rectors’ Pact adopted at UNESCO Headquarters in July 1999,

APPRECIATING the progress towards the final phase of the creation of UNESCO Chairs at Deakin University and Laval University,

OBSERVING the progress achieved in implementing the 25 interdisciplinary projects adopted at Melbourne for the enhancement of the tangible and intangible heritage, a practical illustration of the investment of the human, technical and financial means of several universities,

APPRECIATING the transfer and exchange of knowledge achieved through these projects in a spirit of sharing and solidarity, systematically practised henceforth by the universities,

TAKING NOTE through the debates and communications of the determination of the participants to strengthen and structure the operating and co-ordinating machinery of the international network,

DECIDE ON:

  • The adoption and signature by the rectors of the universities of a Forum UNESCO Charter at the next international seminar in Byblos, Lebanon, in September-October 2000, confirming their ethical commitment and objectives and defining very accurately the responsibilities and complementary roles of the various partners;
  • The creation of regional informatics hubs making use of intelligent agents for the dissemination of information on the range of activities of the universities and enabling research to be targeted according to the needs of each university;
  • The creation of a working group under the aegis of UNESCO, in charge of granting the Forum UNESCO-University and Heritage label to projects, particularly those of an operational nature;
  • The implementation of thematic workshops on town planning and heritage, historical sites, intangible heritage, communication of the heritage, etc.;
  • The indispensable construction of networks of local, national and regional forums as essential anchoring points of Forum UNESCO;
  • The strengthening and development of students’ associations and their activities, particularly through national and international youth and heritage work camps;
  • The fostering of greater awareness among university rectors and in civil society of the economic impact of enhancing their heritage;
  • The strengthening of co-operation between universities and practitioners in charge of the heritage in the context of joint activities;
  • The sensitization of university decision-makers with regard to the importance of creating a pluridisciplinary programme on the heritage: heritage legislation, town planning, restoration, archaeology, history of art, museology, sociology, communication, etc.;
  • The stimulation of an exchange of expertise between academics and the extension of solidarity and sharing between universities by awarding grants to students;
  • The firm support of the future UNESCO Chairs at Laval, Deakin, Valencia and Buenos Aires;

RECOMMEND that co-operation be strengthened with:

  • ICOMOS in the creation of the Forum UNESCO-University and Heritage Charter and the creation of a working group with the International Training Committee, particularly with regard to work conducted on the basis of data from the Internet;
  • ICCROM in the preparation of the Forum UNESCO Charter and the creation of a working group in charge of projects, and within the context of an integrated programme for urban conservation and sites implemented in various regions of the world, and the identification of joint action programmes;
  • ICOM through implementation of a network of university museums and participation in international conferences for university museums (Glasgow, Great Britain, and Paris, 2000);
  • IFLA through the strengthening of co-operation in the fields of town planning and management of cultural landscapes;
  • IAU through implementation of joint national campaigns for sensitization and mobilization in order to protect and enhance the heritage;

the Council of Europe, particularly through the networks of European universities;

INVITE the universities concerned with the tangible and intangible cultural heritage in various countries to bring into play their joint efforts at the next international seminar of Forum UNESCO-University and Heritage to be held at Byblos, Lebanon, in September-October 2000;

CALL UPON the President of Al Akhawayn University to strengthen initiatives taken at the Ifrane seminar through creation of a UNESCO Chair which would also include a programme for the sensitization of decision-makers and research grants, and to exploit the substantial potential of that University, namely the rich cultural heritage of Morocco in interaction with the international expertise of specialists of the Moroccan heritage;

REQUEST the Director-General to confirm the priorities in the heritage programmes of Forum UNESCO-University and Heritage, and to strengthen action taken by UNESCO to optimize the achievements of the international network and their dissemination in the various countries.

Al Akhawayn University, Ifrane, Morocco
8 December 1999

References

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4 Trackbacks / Pingbacks

  1. The Declaration of Melbourne (1998) – Open Repository on Cultural Property
  2. The Declaration of Quebec (1997) – Open Repository on Cultural Property
  3. The Declaration of Valencia (1996) – Open Repository on Cultural Property
  4. The Charter of Vice-Chancellors (1999) – Open Repository on Cultural Property

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