The International Council of Museums (ICOM) held its 40th Ordinary General Assembly on November 14, 2025, during the 27th ICOM General Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. It adopted six resolutions designed to guide the organisation's mission and shape museum policies worldwide over the next three years.
ICOM's statutes and resolutions are formal statements adopted every three years by the Ordinary General Assembly during the General Conference. The 2025 resolutions focused on three interconnected themes: intangible heritage, youth empowerment, and new technologies.
According to a press announcement on the 4th of December, the 27th General Conference in Dubai was the first in the MESA region, attracting over 4,500 professionals under the theme “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Changing Communities.”
The three interconnected sub-themes—intangible heritage, youth power, and new technologies—guided discussions and the six unanimously adopted resolutions at the 40th Ordinary General Assembly.
The themes form an interconnected “triangle”: digital tools aid intangible heritage preservation, youth are tech-savvy bearers of living culture, and ethics ensure inclusive application.
The committee was chaired by Penelope Theologi-Gouti from ICOM Greece and included nine additional members representing various national committees, along with the ICOM President and Director General as ex officio members.
The six resolutions adopted unanimously by the General Assembly address critical issues facing the global museum community:
Resolution 1 calls for museums to collaborate respectfully with Indigenous peoples and local communities, integrate traditional knowledge into exhibitions, include community representatives in decision-making, and create inclusive spaces for dialogue.
Resolution 2 emphasises crisis preparedness by urging museums to maintain comprehensive physical and digital inventories, assist conflict-affected institutions in establishing documentation systems, ensure information accessibility for provenance research and combat illicit trafficking. To achieve these goals, it strengthens coordination between ICOM and partner organisations, including UNESCO, INTERPOL, and various NGO's for effective crisis responses.
Resolution 3 encourages institutions to promote educational content on peace, climate change, and global justice; ensure digital accessibility through multilingual resources and open-source tools; invest in staff digital skills; and adopt immersive technologies responsibly. The resolution recommends establishing an ICOM Working Group on Digital Ethics and Artificial Intelligence to provide guidance, ethical standards, and tools for museums navigating digital transformation.
Resolution 4 empowers museums to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals through youth engagement, social inclusion, and climate action. It calls on museums to create inclusive cultural venues for children and young people, provide accessible programming, including for children with disabilities, and support youth-led climate initiatives and SDG-focused programmes.
Resolution 5 directs museums to identify vulnerabilities and develop tailored disaster-preparedness plans, provide ongoing staff training, and collaborate with emergency agencies, NGOs, and community partners to build institutional resilience.
Resolution 6 establishes a Standing Committee on Decolonisation. The committee is expected to promote cross-regional dialogue and exchange of knowledge on decolonisation within the global museum community, ensuring representation from former colonies, former colonial powers, Indigenous peoples, and legal experts. It will also advance discussions on restitution, representation, and historical accountability in alignment with ICOM's Strategic Plan, 2022-2028.
Image: Courtesy of ICOM
