Dear Colleagues,
In deploring the appalling situation in Iraq we should do our best to
focus our energies on raising consciousness among our constituencies. I
have held several media conferences and interviews and one of the things I
am doing this week is to hold a public forum on war and protection of
cultural property. Please find the notice below. I urge people to start
lobbying with their national governments and relevant agencies to mobilise
the campaign against the illicit traffic that would follow the pillaging
and destruction in Iraq.
amar
_______________________________________________________________
TOYOTA–ANU
PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES
visit www.anu.edu/mac/community/lectures
THE CENTRE FOR SUSTAINABLE HERITAGE DEVELOPMENT
PRESENTS A PUBLIC FORUM
WAR AND THE PROTECTION
OF CULTURAL PROPERTY
Panelists: Professor Lyndel Prott
Professor Patrick O’Keefe
Professor Amareswar Galla
Wednesday 16 April 2003, 7.30–9pm
SAS Visions Theatre, National Museum of Australia, Canberra
This is a public forum focusing on recent international conflicts,
including those in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A panel of three eminent professors and heritage experts from the Centre
for Sustainable Heritage Development, Research School of Pacific and Asian
Studies, ANU, will discuss the protection of cultural property before,
during and after armed conflicts under the Hague Convention.
Professor Lyndel Prott will focus on the Hague Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict 1954 and
its Second Protocol in 1999. She will describe the efforts of UNESCO to
save cultural property during and after conflicts in Cambodia, Iraq and
Kuwait (1991) and Afghanistan. Professor Prott, AO,is a former Director of
the Cultural Heritage Division, UNESCO.
Professor Patrick O’Keefe will focus on practical and legal problems
relating to the return of cultural property that has been taken during and
immediately after conflict. He will refer to claims in Europe and North
America that illustrate the complex issues that can hinder or prevent an
object being returned to its original owner,regardless of it belonging to
a state or private person. Professor Patrick O’Keefe, FSA, is an
international consultant to Inter Alia, UNESCO and the Council of Europe.
Professor Amareswar Galla will focus on the role of Blueshield (the
cultural equivalent of Red Cross) and some of the challenges of
international cooperation. He will make a case for an Australian
Blueshield Committee to be formed that will maximise the participation of
cultural workers, professional bodies and various NGOs in the
protection of cultural properties. Examples will include Afghanistan, Sri
Lanka, Cambodia and Iraq. Professor Amareswar is the Director of the
Centre for Sustainable Heritage Development and Chairperson of the Asia
Pacific Organisation of the International Council of Museums.
--
Professor Amareswar Galla
Director of Studies
Sustainable Heritage Development Programs,
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
The Australian National University
Canberra, ACT 0200, AUSTRALIA
_____________________________
President, Asia Pacific Executive Board &
Chairperson, Cross Cultural Taskforce,
International Council of Museums, Paris
Culture and Heritage Adviser to UNESCO
PO Box- 3175
Manuka, ACT 2603
Australia
Ph. 61 419 273 041
Fax. 61 2 6298 3908
Email. [log in to unmask]
> ICOM President Jacques Perot urges all ICOM Committees and Affiliated
> Organisations to disseminate as widely as possible the following UNESCO
> press release.
>
> Communiqué
> Office of the Spokeswoman/ La Porte Parole
> Contact: [log in to unmask]
> Telephone: 00 33 (1) 45 68 13 26
> Fax: 00 33 (1) 45 68 55 66
>
> UNESCO, 15 April 2003
>
> Koïchiro Matsuura: Libraries and Archives must be protected as essential
> parts of the rich heritage of Iraq
>
> As the evidence of the destruction of many parts of the cultural
> heritage in Iraq is increasing, the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro
> Matsuura, today warned of the devastation and looting of libraries and
> archives in the country, which may have irreversible consequences for
> maintaining and strengthening the country's cultural identity. "I
> reiterate my urgent call to take immediate measures of protection and
> surveillance of Iraqi cultural institutions to which libraries and
> archives belong", declared Mr Matsuura.
>
> "Libraries, archives and manuscripts must be preserved as essential
> parts of the rich heritage of Iraq. Libraries are the essence of
> knowledge societies. Nearly twenty centuries of written history of
> mankind are in danger; everything must be done to protect them from
> looting and destruction ", Mr. Matsuura said.
>
> "Measures must be taken to protect governmental records that are held by
> archives, since they are vital for the functioning of public
> administration after the war, for example, to protect the legal,
> financial and contractual rights of Iraqi citizens", Mr Matsuura added.
>
> Through its Memory of the World Programme[1], UNESCO is recognized as
> the international lead agency for the protection of the world's
> documentary heritage in libraries and archives and has established
> Guidelines both for the safeguarding of vital records in the event of
> armed conflicts and for the management of state security archives of
> former repressive regimes.
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> [1] Memory of the World Programme: http://www.unesco.org/webworld
>
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