By Linny Folau

Tonga is aiming to ratify the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage before the next Session of the UNESCO General Conference in October 2009, Tonga's Minister of Education, Women's Affairs and Culture Hon. Rev. Dr Tevita Palefau said today.

In opening a regional meeting in Tonga that brings together professional keepers of culture from 16 Pacific Islands countries, he urged Pacific Island governments to take immediate action and take the first step to safeguard their heritage.

Organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) it is the Second Pacific Meeting and First National Consultation Meeting on the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Held at the Royal Tonga International Hotel at Fua'amotu the two meetings are aimed at assisting Pacific Island countries to ratify the Convention in order to better transmit the knowledge of their culture to the future. Since the Convention's enactment in 2003, 106 countries have ratified it with only Papua New Guinea from the Pacific.

Original

"Our culture should be original, not imitating, not fake, not artificial. We should be proud of ownership of our creativity," he said in urging governments of the Pacific to complete the ratification process "without further delay," because it provided a structure for safeguarding cultural heritage.

Speaking to UNESCO representatives including the UNESCO Director and Pacific Representative Dr Visesio Pongi and Pacific Member States (excepting New Zealand), the Minister said his presence confirmed the priority given to this program, "and to ensure that my Ministry takes the necessary measures to ratify the Convention before the next session of the UNESCO General Conference in October 2009."

Tongan Lakalaka

He said the Tongan Lakalaka was proclaimed by UNESCO in November 2003 as a 'Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity,' and in November 2008 it was further accepted to be included on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

"These are truly very proud sentimental moments for Tonga."

He said that the preservation and promotion of cultural diversity are fundamental missions of UNESCO.

"Our cultural heritage, is the fundamental value and basic source of our cultural identity and expressions that affects us daily. The need therefore to safeguard these living treasures is urgent. And I strongly believe that UNESCO has fulfilled its responsibility in standard setting through the 2003 Convention," he said.

"The onus and need for urgent and immediate actions is now on us and the first crucial step I believe would be to ratify the Convention to commit and bind us politically in the right direction towards safeguarding our intangible cultural heritage before it dies out once and for all."

Needs serious effort

Dr Visesio Pongi said in his welcoming address that since the First Pacific Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage held in Fiji last year, the Pacific as a region had made some progress but more could have been achieved if we were serious about our efforts.

"We boast of the fact that we live in the most culturally diverse region of the world especially in our intangible cultural heritage yet we allow many of our traditions, expressions, rituals, languages, our traditional knowledges, practices and performances to wither away.

"We have more than half of the world's languages and we cover a third of the globe yet we are virtually unknown in the global community in terms of our culture and heritage," he said.

This was the second meeting UNESCO had organised since 2007 as a part of their commitment to creating awareness among countries of the importance of protecting its heritage. But of the Pacific Islands countries only PNG has ratified the convention while Tonga, Cook Islands, Palau and Niue had indicated their commitment towards ratification, he said.

Raising awareness

"The purpose of the Convention is to safeguard the countries' intangible cultural heritage, ensure respect for the intangible cultural heritage of the communities and groups involved as well as raising awareness at the local, national and international levels," he added.

The Director also thanked the Government of Japan which through its Japanese Fund in Trust had provided financial resources that allowed UNESCO to organise both these meetings and that in 2007.

The Second Pacific Meeting was held today to December 2 before Tonga holds its first national consultation meeting on Friday, December 5.

"We hope Tonga will make all necessary arrangements towards ratifying the convention in the near future," said the Director.

Delegates

More than 20 cultural heritage professionals are taking part in the discussions and include delegates from Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga, Tokelau, Solomons, Samoa, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Niue, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Fiji, Federated States of Micronesia, the Cook Islands and Australia, as well as UNESCO representatives from Paris and the regional office in Apia.

A performance of the "Sangone" Lakalaka was given by a small group from the Tonga Institute of Education who had performed the Lakalaka at the Pacific Arts Festival this year.