The seventeenth session of the UNESCO's Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (17.COM) was held from 28 November to 3 December 2022 in Rabat, Morocco. Representatives of the 2003 convention's 129 states parties, 111 non-governmental organizations, cultural institutions, Mana Naqsh Heritage Institute for Art & Culture, and other stakeholders from across the globe attended this session. Mr Samir Addahre, Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Morocco to UNESCO, chaired this annual gathering.
Simultaneously with this gathering, the 2022 symposium of the UNESCO's ICH Non-Governmental Organizations Forum (ICH NGO Forum) titled "Living Heritage, Climate Change and the Environment" was held on 27 November and Dr Shahab Nikman, the managing director of Mana Naqsh, also participated in this forum.
In this annual session, 39 intangible cultural heritage elements, including 4 elements of "Crafting and Playing the Oud (Iran - Syrian Arab Republic)", "Yaldā/Chella (Iran - Afghanistan)", "Turkmen-style Needlework Art (Turkmenistan - Iran)" and "Sericulture and Traditional Production of Silk for Weaving (Afghanistan - Azerbaijan - Iran - Türkiye - Tajikistan - Turkmenistan - Uzbekistan)" from Iran were inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Out of these 4 elements, the file "Crafting and Playing the Oud" submitted by Iran and Syria to UNESCO for world inscription was prepared with the collaboration of Mana Naqsh.
Along the gathering, Nikman also met with Tim Curtis, the Chief of the Intangible Cultural Heritage Section of UNESCO and the Secretary of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of UNESCO, members of Intergovernmental Committee, ambassadors, and representatives of states parties, as well as the managers of non-governmental organizations and cultural institutions and discussed the collaboration in joint international projects.