MINISTER of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange has announced that Jamaica has been elected to three important UNESCO committees, including the powerful World Heritage Committee which has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Minister Grange said it was “important that Jamaica is at the table helping to make the important decisions in the interest of the country and other small island developing states. So we take our election to these committees quite seriously and will work to amplify the voices and concerns of states like us.”

Jamaica was one of nine new members elected to the World Heritage Committee at the recent General Assembly of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention in Paris, France. Jamaica’s membership to the committee will run until 2027. The country will be represented by Debra Kay Palmer and Tracy Commock.

It is Jamaica’s second term on the World Heritage Committee, having served between 2013 and 2017 when the Blue and John Crow Mountains was inscribed on the World Heritage List. Jamaica is currently in the process of nominating Port Royal to the list. Jamaica also intends to nominate Seville Heritage Park to the list.

In the meantime, at the UNESCO General Conference, Jamaica was elected to four year terms on the Intergovernmental Committee for Physical Education and Sport and the International Coordinating Council of the Man and the Biosphere Programme.