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In recognition of its outstanding role in backing the international efforts to preserve human heritage around the world, the Kingdom of Bahrain won a seat in the World Heritage List by an overwhelming majority of 121 votes. Bahrain was shortlisted with Five  seats dedicated to countries “ State parties  regardless of their geographical distribution or regional locations”. This came during the 21st General Assembly of the States Parties to the 1972 World Heritage Convention,  meeting  from 14 to 15 November 2017 at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, France, convening the 193 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention.
Commenting on this important event, H.E Shaikh Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa, President of Bahrain Authority for Culture & Antiquities (BACA), Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Regional Arab Centre for World Heritage, described the election of Bahrain to the committee as “ A fruitful commemoration of the  strenuous efforts made to preserve Our Bahraini and Arab historical  heritage”.  H.E also paid tribute to “ The relentless  support  and directives of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, may God protect him, His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, and Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, may God Protect them all p for their support and keenness to boost Bahrain’s status on the map of advanced countries in protecting the world human heritage”. H.E also thanked all countries, “ Particularly the Arab group at UNESCO, for voting for Bahrain”. H.E added saying “ We are pleased to be elected as a member state at the World heritage Committee, Bahrain has been a host to the Regional Arab Centre for World Heritage since 2012, after being elected to the committee’s membership in 2007 and its presidency in 2011”. H.E also  praised Bahrain’s success to register two sites on the World Human Heritage List (Qala’at al Bahrain  Fort site  and the Pearling: Testimony of an Island Economy project), pointing out the ongoing efforts to nominate more sites for the list like A’ali Mounds and Manama Historical City. The World Heritage Committee consists of 21 member states participating in the 1972 World Heritage Convention. Bahrain clinched a seat for four years during the 21st meeting of the General Assembly.
In addition to the election vote at the World Heritage Committee, state parties also  discussed the recommendations of the 20th session and spotlighted the committee’s achievements and activities as well as progress in carrying out the strategy 2012-2022 agenda.
Worth to mention that the World Heritage Committee meets once a year, and consists of representatives from 21 of the States Parties to the Convention elected by their General Assembly. The Committee is responsible for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention, defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties. It has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List. It examines reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties and asks States Parties to take action when properties are not being properly managed. It also decides on the inscription or deletion of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger. Indeed, sites are nominated by national governments and evaluated by two Advisory Bodies, the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) , and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), which is an intergovernmental organization created to promote the conservation of all forms of cultural heritage, in every region of the world. These organizations have expertise in heritage and culture. Each year, the Committee meets and chooses which nominations will be added to the List. It can accept the Advisory Bodies’ recommendations or overrule them.