WHC Nomination Documentation File Name: 916.pdf UNESCO Region: AFRICA __________________________________________________________________________________________________ SITE NAME: Robben Island DATE OF INSCRIPTION: 4th December 1999 STATE PARTY: SOUTH AFRICA CRITERIA: C (iii)(vi) DECISION OF THE WORLD HERITAGE COMMITTEE: Excerpt from the Report of the 23rd Session of the World Heritage Committee The Committee inscribed this property on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (iii) and (vi): Criterion (iii): The buildings of Robben Island bear eloquent witness to its sombre history. Criterion (vi): Robben Island and its prison buildings symbolize the triumph of the human spirit, of freedom, and of democracy over oppression. Many members of the Committee expressed their pleasure and emotion and congratulated South Africa for having proposed this site which symbolizes the fight against oppression, the victory of democracy as well as the process of national reconciliation. Over and over again the members of the Committee paid homage to the vision of President Mandela. The Delegate of Thailand considered that criterion (vi) could be amended during the session so that the inscription of the site would be possible only under this criterion. The Committee took note of the need to discuss the amendments that could be proposed under criterion (vi). The Chairperson expressed satisfaction with this inscription and considered that this decision has been taken on the African ground was an honour for Morocco. The Delegate of South Africa expressed her appreciation for the Committee’s decision (see Annex VII to this report). BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS Robben Island was used at various times between the 17th and the 20th century as a prison, a hospital for socially unacceptable groups, and a military base. Its buildings, and in particular those of the late 20th century, such as the maximum security prison for political prisoners, bear witness to the triumph of democracy and freedom over oppression and racialism. 1.b State, Province or Region: Western Cape Province 1.d Exact location: 33°48' S, 18°22' E ROBBEN ISLAND NOMINATION FILE: WORLD HERITAGE SITE STATUS Amendment to text updated March 1999 Text amended in sections 2 a,b &c; section 3 b, c &d and Additional Appendix F 1 1. SPECIFIC LOCATION 4 a. Country b. State, province or region c. Name of Property d. Exact location on map and indication of geographical coordinates e. Maps f. Area of property proposed for inscription 2. JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION a. Statement of significance 5 b. Possible comparative analysis 7 c. Authenticity 11 d. Criteria under which inscription is proposed 15 3. DESCRIPTION a. Description of property 17 b. History and development 22 c. Form and date of most recent records of property 30 d. Present state of conservation 31 *Maps e. Policies and programmes related to the presentation and promotion of the property 46 4. MANAGEMENT a. Ownership 51 b. Legal status 52 c. Protective measures and means of implementing them 53 d. Agency with management authority 54 e. Level at which management is exercised 55 f. Agreed plans to property 56 g. Sources and levels of finance 58 h. Sources of expertise and training in conservation and management techniques 59 I. Visitor facilities and statistics 61 j. Property management plan and statement of objectives 62 k. Staffing levels 63 5. FACTORS AFFECTING THE PROPERTY a. Development pressures 65 b. Environmental pressures 66 c. Natural disasters and preparedness 67 d. Visitor/tourism pressures 68 e. Number of inhabitants on the property 69 2 6. MONITORING a. Key indicators for measuring state of conservation 70 b. Administrative arrangements for monitoring property 71 c. Results of previous reporting exercises 73 7. DOCUMENTATION a. Photographs, slides and video 74 b. Copies of property management plans and extracts of other plans relevant to the property c. Bibliography 75 d. Address where inventory, records and archives are held 78 APPENDICES Appendix A: Legislation * National Monuments Act No 28 of 1969 (as amended) * Cultural Institutions Act No 29 of 1969 (as amended) * Environment Conservation Act No 73 of 1989 (as amended) * Regulations relating to the Environment Conservation Act No 73, Schedules 1 and 2 * Sea-Shore Act No 21 of 1935 (as amended) Appendix B: Integrated Environmental Management System * Document of the System as developed for Robben Island Appendix C: Survey and Catalogue * Conservation Survey of Robben Island Compiled for the National Monuments Council by Patricia Riley, 1993 * Operation Sea Eagle, a survey of the shipwrecks around Robben Island by Drs B Wertz and Dr J Deacon Appendix D: Surveys of the Fauna on the Island * The Wildlife of Robben Island, Dr Rob Crawford, Department of Sea Fisheries, Cape Town * The Birdlife of Robben Island, Dr Rob Crawford, Department of Sea Fisheries, Cape Town Appendix E: Visual material relating to Robben Island * Historic maps and photographs * Contemporary photographs and slides * Video entitled AThe Storey of Robben Island@ * Illustrated pamphlets Appendix F: Additional information relating to the built environment * Robben Island: Survey of the Built Environment, Lucien le Grange and Nicholas Baumann & Revel Fox & Partners 3 1. SPECIFIC LOCATION a) Country REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA b) State, Province or Region WESTERN CAPE PROVINCE c) Name of Property ROBBEN ISLAND (referred hereafter as "The Island") d) Exact location on map an indication of geographical location coordinates 18 22" East 33 48" South e) Maps and/or plans See attached maps 1: 50 000 ref. 3318CD CAPE TOWN 1993 1 : 250 000 ref 3318 CAPE TOWN 1994 f) Area of property proposed for inscription 475 hectares with an area of one nautical mile around the Island which serves as a buffer zone. 4 2. JUSTIFICATION FOR INSCRIPTION a) Statement of Significance >Robben Island - from incarceration to liberation. From the punishment of the body to the freedom of the spirit= Robben Island is a place of great symbolic value and is directly associated with ideas, beliefs as well as events that are of eminent universal significance. With its history of banishment, imprisonment and suffering it has come to symbolise, not only for South Africans or the African continent, but also for the entire world, the miracle of the triumph of the human spirit over enormous hardship and adversity. Of the many roles that Robben Island has assumed over the past four hundred years, it primarily served as a place of banishment and isolation. Throughout documented South African history, the Island has been associated with incarceration, pain and the subjugation of the human spirit. During the periods of Dutch and English occupation of the region, the Island was used as a place of imprisonment for those who opposed colonial rule. With the early banishment of Khoisan leaders, Malaysian Muslim religious figures and Xhosa chiefs to the Island, its role as a symbol of resistance against oppression was established. The Island=s more recent ability to function as a crucible for the consolidation of the anti- apartheid movement bears further testimony to the symbolic value of the place. However, out of these conditions of extreme hardship, pain and suffering has arisen a spirit of hope and tolerance that has, in the words of President Nelson Mandela, turned this island into a world-wide icon of the universality of human rights, of hope, peace and reconciliation. Another famous prisoner, Walter Sisulu, has written > The name Robben Island is inextricably linked to the struggle against colonialism, for freedom, democracy and peace in South Africa. Robben Island=s notorious history as the place to which so-called undesirables of our society were banished.... should be turned around into a source of enlightenment and education on the dangers of myopic philosophies, social and economic practices whose primary and sole objective is the oppression of one group by another.= It is this condition of duality - of suffering and hope, of resistance and tolerance - embodied within the spirit, history and cultural landscape of Robben Island, that underscores the site=s significance and imbues it with special symbolic value. 5 Robben Island offers to a world struggling under social injustices and intolerance, the example of the indomitable nature of the human spirit. 6 b) Possible comparative analysis Robben Island has a long and comprehensive history. The earliest records either alluding to or mentioning Robben Island are dated from the late fifteenth century when Portuguese navigators first travelled around the Cape of Good Hope (known then as the Cape of Storms). Yet to be confirmed is the possibility of Stone age hunter gatherers wandering along its shores when in glacial times the island was still linked to the mainland. In the course of the seventeenth century Robben Island served as a larder or pantry for sailors passing on the long route to the East to trade in spices and slaves. Later it became a place of banishment where various highly placed persons opposed to the various colonial regimes were detained. In the nineteenth century the lepers and mentally ill were sent to Robben Island to remove them from >normal= members of society and still later the prison was established, first for common law prisoners and then for the political prisoners of the second half of the twentieth century. Comparisons between Robben Island and other sites are not easily drawn, due to the unique degree of significance described in section (a). Two approaches to the comparative analysis have been adopted: the first to compare Robben Island with other islands that have served similar purposes in the past and that have a cultural heritage that reflects the various periods of occupation (criteria iii) and secondly to compare Robben Island with other sites that have unique symbolic significance in a universal context. (Criteria vi) Devil=s Island, off the coast of French Guyana, was used by the French as a high security prison for their most infamous criminals from 1852 until 1946, a period of just under one hundred years.