The permanent delegate of Haiti to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Dominique DUPUY, made the announcement on Thursday.
This decision has just been approved. The Soup Joumou, through the knowledge, know-how and practices related to it, has just been inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity under the 2003 UNESCO Convention.
“Symbol of the identity and freedom of the Haitian people, our soup of independence, soup of freedom, is the first Haitian inscription on this list, since the ratification by the country, in 2009, of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage,” said Mrs. Dupuy.
The nomination of the soup had been submitted last March and the technical evaluation body had recommended the inscription of this element noting that it met each of the five evaluation criteria. The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage has today unanimously approved the inscription of the soup, the delegate said.
She added that this is a historic moment is possible thanks to the full collaboration of several institutions and actors including the Haitian National Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO, the Haitian Government, students, professors and researchers of the University of Eta (UEH) who have conducted the inventory of this element, the many associations and community groups of Haiti and the diaspora who supported this application, photographers and videographers who have contributed to the assembly of the file; the experts who ensured the writing of the text of the file and its translation and finally the national and international media.
Long live Soup Joumou! Long live the Haitian intangible cultural heritage! concluded the press release announcing this wonderful opportunity to contribute to the enhancement of the country’s image abroad in this difficult period of national history.