Morocco Thwarts a New Attempt by Algeria to Illegally Appropriate Its Heritage at UNESCO
Morocco Successfully Thwarts Algeria’s Attempt to Claim Its Immaterial Heritage
This Wednesday morning, the Kingdom of Morocco successfully countered a new attempt by Algeria to illegally appropriate Moroccan immaterial heritage at the Republic of Paraguay.
According to a well-informed source, Algeria attempted to include an image of the traditional Moroccan caftan in a dossier concerning an Algerian garment. This prompted Morocco’s ambassador to UNESCO, Samir Addahr, to file an official protest.
In a historic first for UNESCO, the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage upheld Morocco’s protest and decided to remove the image of the Moroccan caftan from the Algerian dossier, following a strong official complaint from the Moroccan delegation, which presented solid evidence.
The Moroccan Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, in coordination with the Kingdom’s Permanent Delegation to UNESCO, gathered data on the Moroccan caftan and obtained information regarding the image used and its Moroccan origins.
With this decision to reject the inclusion of the Moroccan caftan’s image in the Algerian dossier on the grounds of violating intellectual property rights, UNESCO has recognized yet another attempt by Algeria to illegally appropriate Moroccan heritage, marking it as a recurring issue.
It is important to note that the Ministry of Culture has been actively working to reduce the illegal appropriation of heritage by Algeria, whether through UNESCO or the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva, as well as establishing the "Morocco" label as a national mechanism for protecting intangible heritage.
Morocco is participating in the work of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at UNESCO, with a delegation led by Samir Addahr, ambassador and permanent representative of Morocco to UNESCO, along with Mustafa Jellouk, director of cultural heritage at the Ministry of Youth, Culture, and Communication.
