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The registration of "Obstetrics: Knowledge, Skills and Practices" to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, adopted by the Intergovernmental Committee of UNESCO, was announced today by Deputy Minister of Culture Dr. Vasiliki Kassianidou. At a press conference held at the Deputy Ministry of Culture, Dr. Kassianidou informed that the registration of the item "Midwifery: Knowledge, Skills and Practices" in the List was achieved following arequest submitted jointly by eight countries from a total of four continents, including Cyprus.
As a practice, midwifery transcends national borders and touches on universal human needs and values, Dr Kassianidou said in her speech, adding that "this is what brought us together, eight countries in principle, from different geographical regions of the world." Referring to the Intergovernmental Committee, she noted that she had congratulated States for this unique example of multinational cooperation from almost all geographical groups of the Organization, and for the preparation of a model nomination dossier and a film highlighting gender equality, traditional knowledge, health care for women and the contribution of intangible cultural heritage to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
"We are particularly pleased with this mention because it is in line with our Ministry of State's efforts to upgrade cultural diplomacy in our country," said the Deputy Minister. She added that to date, Cyprus has inscribed five more items on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which demonstrates our will to safeguard, for future generations and the global community, our "intangible cultural heritage" - which is our living tradition.
As Deputy Minister of Culture, we aim for the intangible cultural heritage of our country to survive as a recognizable feature of our cultural identity, to be updated and passed on from generation to generation, said the Deputy Minister of Culture.
[More on the Speech of the Deputy Minister here]
Lucia Loizou Hadjigavriel, former President of the Cyprus National Commission for UNESCO, in her own intervention referred to the Commission's efforts to highlight the richness of Cyprus' living traditions. "We created the infrastructure and framework for recording the intangible cultural heritage elements of our country, in cooperation with the communities of stakeholders and with the assistance of experts in the field. We sought, at the same time, to provide practical support to the communities of institutions that record their traditions in the National Inventory," he said.
According to theUNESCO
representative of the Cyprus National Commission
Thekla Papantoniou,"midwifery, as a practice, is not limited to the health sector. It goes beyond the simple act of 'giving birth to babies'; it involves traditions and customs, creates bonds between community members and, through the way it is practiced, contributes to a deeper understanding of the cultural nuances surrounding birth as a station in the cycle of life. "Midwives pass on the wisdom they have inherited and provide emotional support to mothers and new parents, thus laying the foundation for healthy relationships between family members on the occasion of a baby's arrival into the world," she continued.
The President of the Midwives and Midwives Committee of the Pancyprian Association of Nurses and Midwives Stella Plyta Leontiou speaking about midwives, she underlined their role. "The midwife is the woman who will support, support, advise and care for the woman during pregnancy and childbirth, and together with the newborn during the postpartum period," she said.
"Midwifery remains a field where scientific knowledge meets practices and skills acquired through experience, human contact and exchanges between different generations of midwives in order to preserve the midwifery profession and to maintain the physiology of pregnancy and childbirth. We hope that its inscription on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage will give even greater value and visibility to the contribution of midwives and midwives to society and culture, at national and international level," he added.
A nomination based on community-based initiatives
Midwives are the main agents of practice, usually organized in groups or associations. They also took the initiative for registration. Other networks such as academic institutions or organisations dealing with childbirth, breastfeeding, women's rights and family planning promote the transfer of knowledge and skills related to midwifery.
The preparation of the multinational application was coordinated by the German National Commission for UNESCO, while on the part of Cyprus, the Cypriot National Commission for UNESCO was responsible for coordinating the national actors and collecting the material. The Commission's Officer Thekla Papantoniou participated in the multinational writing team, while Dr Angel Nikolaou Connari and Dr Efrosini Rizopoulou Igoumenidou, as experts on intangible cultural heritage issues, Stella Plyta Leontiou and Maria Panagiotou as representatives of the Committee of Midwives and Midwives participated in the extended working group. The application was also supported by the following bodies and organisations from Cyprus: Pancyprian Council of Nursing and Midwifery, Philotokos Midwives Association, the Department of Nursing - Cyprus University of Technology, European University Cyprus Department of Health Sciences, Limassol General Hospital, the Breastfeeding Association "Doro Zois" and Birth Forward.
The application is accompanied by audiovisual material from all countries; for Cyprus, an excerpt from the film "Birth Days" by Danae Stylianou and material from the Baby Buddy Forward platform was provided.
Context
Intangible Cultural Heritage includes traditions from the fields of dance, theatre, music, spoken word, knowledge about nature and crafts. To date, 181 countries have acceded to the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, taking on, among other commitments, the responsibility of establishing national inventories. Items from the national inventories can be proposed for inclusion in one of UNESCO's three international inventories. Multinational nominations may also be submitted to promote international cooperation and the presentation of elements of the common cultural heritage of humanity.
Each year an intergovernmental committee decides on the inscription of new cultural elements on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists on the recommendation of an evaluation body. To date, Cyprus has inscribed six items on UNESCO's Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage: the Lefkari embroidery (2009), ciattis (2011), the Mediterranean Diet (2013), the art of dry stone (2018) and Byzantine chant (2019) and midwifery (2023). Also in 2022, the Tocatì International Festival and the Traditional Games of Cyprus were included in the List of Good Practices for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
More information:
Midwifery on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage: https:/ich.unesco.org/en/RL/midwifery-knowledge-skills-and-practices-01968
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists: https:/ich.unesco.org/en/lists
"Midwifery practice and science" on the National List of Cyprus: http://www.unesco.org.cy/Programmes-Maieytiki_praktiki_kai_epistimi,GR-PROGRAMMES-04-02-03-37,GR
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