Unesco Cultural Heritage And Conflict In Yemen Syria And Iraq

This book aims to determine UNESCO's capability to facilitate heritage protection measures pre-conflict, emergency response measures during conflict and reconstruction efforts post-conflict. The book employs document analysis to ascertain UNESCO's legal obligations when it comes to facilitating cultural heritage protection in its Member States' territories in the condition of armed conflict, while drawing comparisons with the reality of the organisation's presence and involvement in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. This study maps shifts in UNESCO's level of communication with each country's respective government and civil authorities; allocation of financial, human and material resources; and implementation of heritage safeguarding and reconstruction initiatives. Both quantitative and qualitative data shows UNESCO to exhibit great inequity in engagement, at times, closing communications entirely with Syria, due to the political standpoints of other UNESCO Member States. This political gridlock is often shown to result in the organisation overstating its ability to safeguard or restore heritage, with promises not being followed up with action. Since 2015, UNESCO has expressed a stronger intent to be a key player in heritage protection during armed conflict, however as long as cultural heritage protection is not considered a humanitarian concern, UNESCO will not be able to circumvent much of the political and bureaucratic barriers facing intergovernmental organisations during conflict, which prevent emergency action from being implemented. In order to ensure heritage safeguarding is permitted during periods of significant unrest, regardless of political discord, it is crucial that UNESCO promote a people-centred approach to its cultural heritage protection initiatives. This book evidences that focusing on livelihoods and meaningful and practical connections between populations and their local heritage to be UNESCO's optimal methodological approach for justifying cultural heritage protection as a humanitarian necessity. The book's readership includes academics, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of political science, law and heritage studies.

The fourth volume of the J. Paul Getty Trust Occasional Papers in Cultural Heritage Policy series is the result of a multi-day discussion on the issue of cultural heritage under siege. It features an edited collection of papers and discussions by nineteen scholars and practitioners of different specialties in the field of cultural heritage. This paper, along with the other Occasional Papers, is free and downloadable online.

Changing Heritage presents the most comprehensive analysis of heritage issues available today. Critically analysing the complexity of the current and forthcoming issues faced by heritage, it presents insightful directions for the future. Drawing on the author’s many years of experience working in senior positions at UNESCO, the book presents discussions of heritage sites all around the world. Today, our cultural and natural legacies face significant threats due to social and economic developments, political pressures, and unresolved historical issues. This book delves into these threats from two distinct perspectives: internal tensions and external pressures. The internal tensions include the disregard for human rights and gender equality; the increasing exploitation of heritage for political purposes; the development of post-colonial perspectives; and the necessity to reassess the established notion of "universal value." External pressures stem from global processes, unsustainable tourism, political conflicts, ethnic clashes, and religious strife that are causing destruction in numerous parts of the world. Examining the dynamics between heritage and these internal tensions and external pressures, Bandarin offers insights into the challenges faced and emphasises the imperative role of civil society in safeguarding the value of heritage for present and future generations. Changing Heritage explores a wide range of issues surrounding the crisis in heritage management on an international level. It will be essential reading for heritage scholars, students, and professionals

Lorenzo Casini delves into the increasing globalization of cultural heritage law in this innovative and thought-provoking Advanced Introduction. In addition to answering fundamental questions on cultural property, Casini connects national and global aspects of cultural heritage law, dissects old and contemporary dilemmas, and examines the future challenges of cultural heritage law in the digital age.

Cultural Cleansing and Mass Atrocities: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict Zones addresses the connection between cultural heritage and cultural cleansing, mass atrocities, and the destruction of cultural heritage. Pulling together various threads of discourse and research, Cultural Cleansing and Mass Atrocities outlines the issues, challenges, and options effecting change.

Significant attention today focusses on heritage destruction, but the key international laws prohibiting it - the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its First and Second Protocols (1954/1999) - lay out two core strands to limit the damage: the measures of respect for armed forces, and the safeguarding measures states parties should put in place in peacetime. This volume incorporates wide-ranging international perspectives from those in the academy, together with practitioner insights from the armed forces and heritage professionals, to explore the safeguarding regime. Its contributors consider such questions as whether state parties have truly taken "all possible steps", as the Convention tasks them; what we can learn from past practice, and how the Convention is implemented today; the implications of new trends in heritage law and management - such as the rise of the World Heritage Convention, and in the increasing focus on safe havens rather than refuges; whether new methods of heritage management such as Risk Assessment theory can be applied; and, in a Convention specifically focussed on state parties, what of their opponents, armed non-state actors. Using a mix of case studies and theoretical explorations of new and existing methodologies, the contributions cover a broad timespan from World War II to today, with examples from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Overall, the volume's purpose is to promote wider understanding of the practical effectiveness of the Convention in the contemporary world, by investigating the perceived opportunities and constraints the Convention offers today to protect cultural property in armed conflict, and firmly establishing that such protection must begin in peace.

This book focuses on the management and conservation of architectural heritage with the aim of increasing awareness about the value of such conservation and of saving what is left of history, which in turn rewards societies by supporting the tourism industry, generating economic return, and preserving communities’ identities. Since it has become an essential need to manage and conserve the architectural heritage in order to protect the identity and heritage of a city, there appeared a gap between the theory and its application. Therefore, a considerable amount of attention has been directed by experts in this field toward emphasizing the contribution of heritage conservation in order to inspire the development of imaginative, useful high-quality design.