The Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage was established by the Royal Decree issued on 16 December 2010, following the General Conference of UNESCO at its 35th session in 2009.
The agreement following the decision of the General Conference (35th session) was signed in February 2010 by the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova and the Culture Minister of Bahrain Sh.
The provision of assistance to States Parties in the region to improve their ability to implement the WH Convention (including understanding of WH policy, concepts, rules of procedure, preparation of tentative lists, preparation of nominations, monitoring of state of conservation, education programmes etc.)
by facilitating organization of appropriate WH training at ARC-WH’s premises or anywhere else in the region, and responding to State Party requests for assistance.
ARC-WH will meet its objectives in close coordination with existing international, regional and national agencies, initiatives and programmes concerned with World Heritage in the Arab States region including but not limited to: • international organizations such as ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, and in particular, its ATHAR programme to “protect and promote the rich cultural heritage in the Arab region”; IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature); ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites) • regional organizations such as ALECSO (The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization), Tunisia; ROPME (Regional Organisation for the Protection of the Marine Environment – Kuwait; UNEP, and PERSGA (Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden-Jeddah); • national conservation agencies (the various Departments and Directorates of Antiquities in the region), and national conservation organisations such as CULTNAT (Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage), Egypt, affiliated with Bibliotheca Alexandrina and supported by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of Egypt), and CERKAS (Centre de Restauration et de Rehabilitation de zones atlasiques et sub-atlasiques), Morocco.