PARIS: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has rejected an application by the Kingdom to have the Jeddah historical district declared a world heritage site. UNESCO based its decision on a recommendation from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) which excluded the Jeddah application from the agenda of the International Heritage Conference which is scheduled to take place in Bahrain in July. According to the UNESCO nomination process a country must first take an inventory of its significant cultural and natural properties. This is called the Tentative List, and is important because a country may not nominate properties that have already been included on the Tentative List. Next, it can select a property from this list to place into a Nomination File. At this point, the file is evaluated by ICOMOS and the World Conservation Union. There are 10 selection criteria and a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list. Dr. Ziyyad Al-Derais, the Kingdom's Permanent Representative to UNESCO, said the rejection was based on a purely technical reason. This is largely due to the site being neglected in the Kingdom. He said the members of the International Heritage Council could not hide their dismay at this neglect which has continued for many years. This is why the members expressed their reservations about nominating the site. He said there was a lack of public awareness of the importance and value of heritage sites. This despite the work done to highlight these sites by Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, the Chairman of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities (SCTA). Al-Derais said it must also be noted that heritage is a new development in the country. He said the Kingdom has limited experience, of only two to three years, of learning how to restore the heritage and cultural sites to their former glory. He said the heritage sites in Jeddah need as much care and enthusiasm from the mayoralty and governorate as currently provided by Prince Sultan Bin Salman. He said he is optimistic that the site will be registered in the future because the council's second session takes place in the next one to three years. This will allow the authorities time to carry out improvements. He said the Kingdom has succeeded in including Madain Salih as its first archeological site in 2008 followed by Al-Darayia in 2010. Both sites met UNESCO's selection criteria. Kishore Rao, Director of the Paris-based UNESCO World Heritage Center, said the registration process is very complicated. He said a group of Saudi experts recently declared Jeddah historical district a natural and cultural area, which attracts many visitors.
