Earlier this week in Rabat, Unesco examined applications featuring the French baguette, Algerian raï, Serbian “slivo” and Tunisian harissa to decide whether they should be included on the list of humanity’s intangible heritage. The list is currently composed of 530 items, 72 of which require urgent safeguarding. an item of intangible heritage can be shared between several countries, just like in 2020, when couscous was registered as a result of a joint application by Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. Samir Addahre, Morocco’s ambassador to Unesco, regretted “not having been able to present a joint dossier” with Algeria for Raï due to the breakdown in diplomatic relations between the two neighbours. However, he said he hoped other joint candidacies will be submitted “when circumstances improve one day”.
Unesco Adds Tunisia’s Harissa and Morocco’s Rai to its List of Intangible Cultural Heritage
