Netherlands signs Faro Convention

_{Photo: Launching project My freedom – your freedom? at the Sound and Vision in The Hague.}

On Wednesday 10 January, the Netherlands signed the Faro Convention. With this treaty, the Council of Europe highlights a different perspective on heritage. The Faro Convention puts people and society at the centre and their relationship with heritage.

The three main goals in the treaty are participation and co-determination in heritage practice, using heritage for societal purposes and being open to other heritage views. At the National Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE), the Faro implementation programme is being implemented to put the principles of the convention into practice, together with people and organisations involved in heritage. €6 million is available for this purpose for the period 2023-2025.

Significance for oral history

For oral history, the Faro Convention is specifically significant because it recognises oral history as a valuable source of cultural heritage and supports efforts to record and preserve it. This includes the value of personal memories, stories and traditions passed on orally. The Convention encourages the adoption of measures to promote and protect this form of intangible heritage.

Speaking History intends to actively engage in the coming period, together with various partners, to ensure that the Faro Convention is translated into sustainable policy on these issues.

_{Tanja Gonggrijp (Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the Council of Europe) and Bjørn Berge
(deputy secretary general of the Council of Europe) sign the treaty. Photo Cultural Heritage Department.}

Now that the treaty has been signed, the ratification process begins. If parliament approves the treaty, it will enter into force. The treaty applies at least to the European Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius).

More info on the Faro Convention at: faro.cultureerfgoed.nl.