Behind Iran's felt making nomination: the committee that decides, and how a shared file works

Background

Iran has joined a joint nomination for traditional felt making, and this item explains the machinery that will decide it. Intangible cultural heritage means living practices, skills and knowledge, as against a monument or a site. Nominations are examined by the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, which works under UNESCO. The committee meets in session, and the twenty-first session is at Xiamen in China from 30 November to 5 December. Several states may put forward one practice together in a single multinational file, as Iran and seven neighbours and partners have done here. That single round carries 64 nominations submitted by 82 countries between them. Iran's partners in its own file are Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkiye and Uzbekistan.