We'll reapply for Tilaurakot’s listing in UNESCO World Heritage: Minister Pandey

By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, Aug. 7: Minister for Culture, Tourism, and Civil Aviation Badri Prasad Pandey has said that Nepal will resubmit a proposal to include Tilaurakot in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Speaking at a meeting of the International Relations and Tourism Committee of the Parliament on Wednesday, Minister Pandey stated that a proposal seeking Tilaurakot’s inclusion in the World Heritage List would be resubmitted at the upcoming 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

According to Minister Pandey, Nepal’s previous attempt to include Tilaurakot during the 47th session failed due to technical shortcomings and diplomatic disagreements.

He said, "India raised 33 points of disagreement regarding the proposed site, which created challenges during the process. However, Nepal has sufficient evidence to confirm the historical significance of Tilaurakot, and such issues are not expected to arise again."

Minister Pandey also revealed that India had extended support to prevent Lumbini from being placed on UNESCO’s Endangered List.

However, he noted that the Lumbini Development Trust has not performed as expected. He expressed a commitment to make future plans more systematic and effective even some corrective measures have moved on.  

The proposal to include Tilaurakot in the UNESCO World Heritage List was rejected at the 47th session of UNESCO, held in July 6 to 16 in UNESCO headquarters Paris, France. 

It is considered unfortunate that Nepal’s long-standing efforts to recognise the historic and archaeological site of the ancient Shakya Republic—Tilaurakot, Kapilvastu—were unsuccessful in this session.

Nepal’s decade-long campaign failed after UNESCO’s technical advisor, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), recommended deferring Tilaurakot’s nomination, meaning they did not endorse its inscription during the session.

In its evaluation, ICOMOS issued a report recommending that Tilaurakot be placed on the deferred list. The effort failed even when none of the 21 member states proposed amendments to this recommendation. A final nomination document of approximately 1,000 pages was submitted to UNESCO’s World Heritage Centre in Paris on January 31, 2024, by Dr. Sudhir Bhattarai, Nepal’s Permanent Representative to UNESCO and Ambassador to France.

Nepal’s persistent efforts failed after ICOMOS did not provide a favourable recommendation for Tilaurakot’s inscription.