I’ve been asked to speak about regional collaboration for safeguarding intangible cultural heritage in South-East Asia, but I will be focusing more on safeguarding as it relates to the 2003 Convention, particularly on processes for ratification, inventory making, and legislative measures that have or have not been taken. It is important to know that there is a broader sense in which safeguarding happens at its best when UNESCO is not needed by which I mean it is happening in the communities, and there is no need for international conventions, laws, and national measures. That is the ideal situation. Unfortunately, that is not the situation of the world today. That is why we have the 2003 Convention, and that is why these measures are being put into place. I am going to try to focus on that.

In 2014, the Mongolian Law on the Protection of the Cultural Heritage was amended with 13 chapters and 61 articles. The main purposes and functions of this law is to regulate any relations associated with investigation, registration, research, classification, evaluation, conservation, protection, restoration, revitalization, transmission, ownership, usage, and promotion of cultural heritage. \n\nArticle 22. Registration of cultural heritage \n22.4 The information of intangible cultural heritage and its bearers shall be registered in the cultural heritage registration and information database\n24.1 The information of the cultural heritage registration and information database can be used by citizens and legal entities, with the permission of an authorized entity. It is prohibited to infringe the legitimately given interest of owner and possessor while using the information. \n24.2 The information of cultural heritage registered in the cultural heritage registration and information database can be used to make comprehensive promotional products for the public. \n\nArticle 34. Rights and duties of bearers of intangible cultural heritage \n34.2. Bearers of intangible cultural heritage shall have the following duties:\n34.2.1 to teach students and transmit intangible cultural heritage to the next generations\n34 2.2. to disseminate and promote intangible cultural heritage; \n34.2.3 to provide assistance to record information and conduct registration of intangible cultural heritage.\n\nArticle 39. Transmission of intangible cultural heritage \n39.1. The state central administrative organization in charge of cultural affairs and Governors of all levels shall be responsible to preserve, protect transmit, promote, and research intangible cultural heritage, and its bearers in association with ethnological

Gender equality is a core value of the international community, being one of the 17 sustainable development goals and crosscutting into 9 other goals such as zero hunger, health and nutrition, quality education and decent work. The 2003 Convention also stresses that heritage safeguarding and transmission activities shall be compatible with human rights and relevant policies shall be without discrimination, covering the concept of gender equality. More specifically, Chapter 6 of the Convention’s Operational Directives states, “States Parties shall endeavor to foster the contributions of intangible cultural heritage and its safeguarding to greater gender equality and to eliminating gender-based discrimination.”(UNESCO, 2016) A 2018 report from the UNESCO evaluation body mentioned the following in its review of nomination files. Firstly, majority of nomination files lacked explanation regarding gender roles and the participation of both genders in nomination and safeguarding. Second, the Convention does not expect equal participation by both genders, but rather hopes to understand the different ways the heritage is experienced by the respective genders, what the gender roles are, and whether they have equal rights with respect to safeguarding (UNESCO, 2018). Although gender is a topic of great interest internationally, there hasn’t been much discourse on the relationship between intangible heritage and gender. Thus, this presentation looks at the value of gender considerations in intangible heritage safeguarding.

Anthropological perspectives on intangible cultural heritage have shifted significantly over the past few decades. Whereas traditions were formerly regarded as objective facts, the postmodern movement in general, and challenges to the very notion of traditions (e.g., Hobsbawm and Ranger 1983, Handler and Linnekin 1984) led many anthropologists to suspect that traditions were no more than subjective notions. Allied with this new way of thinking, greater recognition of human agency in social life prompted many to forgo the view that individuals were culturally determined, or so passive as to repeat unthinkingly what had been done in the past (Giddens 1976). These intellectual developments energized many anthropologists to examine how, by whom, where, why, and under what circumstances traditions were claimed.

The Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage is a UNESCO-accredited NGO located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It was established in 2000 with the objectives of protecting and safeguarding various natural and cultural heritage elements, including intangible heritage values, and carrying out various activities for researching, studying, and promoting natural and cultural heritage properties and ICH values.

The culture of the Kazakh people originates from the deepest history of Eurasia. Its roots appear in the creativity of the nomadic tribes who roamed Kazakh steppes long before the Kazakh nation was created. This culture originates from a nomadic lifestyle, and it reflects a harmonious model that combines different cultures, languages, and confessions. Nomads maintained cooperative relationships with settled populations, and this facilitated cultural exchanges that enriched the cultures of the region.

The Foundation for the Protection of Natural and Cultural Heritage is a UNESCO-accred-ited NGO located in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. It was established in 2000 with the objectives of protecting and safeguarding various natural and cultural heritage elements, including intangible heritage values, and carrying out various activities for researching, studying, and promoting natural and cultural heritage properties and ICH values. Since its establishment, the Foundation has been actively involved in state efforts to implement the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the ICH and introduce its new requirements in Mongolia. Both members and the president of the Foundation himself have initiated new ICH amendments into existing heritage law to be more compliant with the 2003 Convention (2006). \nSince 2007, in close cooperation with other ICH NGOs, experts and members of the Foun-dation have elaborated on and implemented action policy, introducing the UNESCO Living Human Treasures program in Mongolia. As a result, in 2015, the primary registration work of ICH elements and their bearers was conducted for the first time in Mongolia, and, overall, 88 ICH elements and more than 3,000 individuals as ICH bearers were identified. One hundred individuals were registered on the “National List of ICH Bearers Possessing the High Level of Skills and Knowledge.”

The joint inscription of Traditional Korean wrestling (Ssiruem/Ssirum) of 2018 was the first-ever and the only joint inscription on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) of Humanity between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. This inscription was decided by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of ICH on an exceptional basis. It demonstrated “the extraordinary strength of cultural heritage for a vehicle of peace and dialogue.” The course of the joint inscription was neither smooth nor ordinary. The nominations were submitted and evaluated separately and submitted initially to different cycles. However, the apparent characteristics of a shared heritage were included in both nominations, leading to the joint inscription.

This networking program is based on experiences and achievements obtained from the collaborative work of UNESCO-ICHCAP in the living heritage field in Central Asia over the last decade.\n\nFor reference, the networking program comes on the heels of a three-party MoU signed by ICHCAP and organizations in Uzbekistan in 2019 and was followed by a Central Asia network meeting in Kazakhstan in 2019. In 2020, ICHCAP in cooperation with International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS), conducted a survey project about ICH festivals along the Silk Roads, particularly with countries along the steppe route. Regarding the survey result, ICHCAP, IICAS and Korea-Central Asia Cooperation Forum Secretariat of the Korea Foundation (KF) held an online webinar and a strategic meeting to consider the need for realizing the multilateral values of Silk Roads-related cooperation

On this beautiful day of the harvesting season in autumn, when hundreds of fruits and grains are ripening and trees in the mountains and fields are tinging maple colours, I am very delighted and filled with the feeling of great honor that our Centre of UNESCO for Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Asia and Pacific Region (ICHCAP) is privileged to host this year International Conference on Safeguarding ICH to reflect on the creative values and productive utility of our intangible heritage that our forefathers have inherited to us.

The 2003 Convention plays a major role in safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is the first international legal instrument that has focused on the traditional elements of life. To date, more than 508 elements of more than 122 countries have been registered in the UNESCO nomination list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The number has been increasing every year. It validates the value of the Intangible Cultural Heritage to the world. The Republic of Korea, which has more than fifty years of history in Intangible cultural heritage preservation, is one of the leading countries in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Preservation. This paper has intended to study one of the UNESCO nominated ICH elements of traditional dance performances i.e. Ganggangsullae of Korea and see the impacts after its nomination. Ganggangsullae has been successfully safeguarded in Korea. Its inclusion in the education curriculum has made it possible to disseminate its historical significance and values to the younger generation. Despite the effort of the state, Ganggangsullae seems to lack the interest of the people. It is an important issue to understand the reasons and find ways to revive its essence rather than being confined to the documents.

In reality, safeguarding ICH (or whatever term one uses)1 has been an important issue for the large majority of countries around the globe and their citizens long before the 2003 Convention was adopted. The ‘problem’ of ICH, therefore, was a lack of formal international recognition of this reality and a cultural heritage protection paradigm that prioritised monumental European cultural forms over local and indigenous ones and that, when it addressed traditional culture, it did so from a heavily researcher-oriented viewpoint. The experience of those countries that are Parties to the 2003 Convention shows clearly that ICH in all its various forms is a rich social and, often, economic and even political resource that provides a variety of possible routes towards sustainable models of development. This variety is determined by many social, cultural, economic, political, and environmental factors and is itself part of the invaluable diversity of this form of heritage.