The Executive Board paves the way for stronger UNESCO in the field of cultural heritage protection

The 196th Executive Board of UNESCO adopted a Decision on “Culture in Conflict Areas: a Humanitarian Concern and a Safety Issue. UNESCO’s Role and Responsibilities” on 21 April. Condemning the continuing, deliberate attacks against the cultural heritage of Syria, Iraq and Libya and recognizing that the illicit trafficking of cultural objects may be financing terrorism, the Decision emphasizes UNESCO’s leading role in the protection of cultural heritage and the safeguarding of cultural diversity.
After an impassioned two-hour long debate, the relief among the 58 Members of UNESCO”s Executive Board to UNESCO was palpable. Unanimously adopted by acclamation, Decision 196 EX/29, introduced by Italy and Spain and co-signed by many other members of the Board, aims at strengthening the Organization’s capacities to protect cultural heritage during conflicts, particularly with regard to the deliberate destruction of heritage sites as well as the looting and illicit trafficking of cultural objects.
By linking the destruction of cultural heritage with humanitarian, security and peacebuilding issues, this resolution gives institutional backing to the message UNESCO’s Director-General has been repeating since the increased terrorist threat related to the territorial expansion of ISIS/Daesh in Iraq and Syria last summer: protecting cultural heritage and integrating the cultural dimension in conflict prevention and resolution is more than a cultural emergency – it is a political and security imperative.
The UNESCO Secretariat has immediately started working on the implementation of this Decision, which goes in line with efforts already underway at the initiative of the Director-General, notably the 1 April high level meeting convened to map out the effective implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2199, adopted on 12 February 2015. At that meeting, UNESCO's key partners in protecting cultural heritage agreed to strengthen cooperation and exchange of information in their efforts to improve safeguarding of this heritage in Syria and Iraq. Another high-level meeting is foreseen to take place before the summer break, in order to bring together additional partners and to cover a larger pan of the broad issue that is the protection of cultural heritage and the safeguarding of cultural diversity.