1 [DIA 1] Thank you for the invitation. I will try to be accurate and short in my presentation. [DIA 2] First at all, what is ICCROM? It's an autonomous Intergovernmental Organization created by UNESCO in 1956 and hosted by Italy since 1958. The membership of ICCROM covers today 134 member states in all the continents (all European Union members are in ICCROM, except Hungary which unfortunate unfortunately withdrew last year). [DIA 3] Our headquarters are in Rome, but as of last year we also have a regional branch for Arab countries based in the United Arab Emirates, in Sharjah; [DIA 4] we have also founded and sustain a School for African Heritage in Benin, the École du Patrimoine Africain, recently recognized by the African Union as an educational institution of panafrican interest. [DIA 5] Our budget is about 7 million euro per biennium, 70% of which is covered by membership fees. [DIA 6] ICCROM is governed by a General Assembly, which elects a Council of professionals who design our strategic directions and the program and budget. The implementation of the program is carried out by a Secretariat currently consisting of 34 people, 14 professionals among them, led by a Director-General, who for the last 4 years (and for two more) has been me, the first Italian since the foundation of ICCROM. The Director is selected among professional candidates with relevant experience in heritage conservation. [DIA 7] The mission assigned by UNESCO for ICCROM was in fact to study the issues of conservation of cultural heritage all over the world, and to provide training to the professionals of countries requesting it. [DIA 8] Today the mission of the organization has expanded considerably, following the widening of the concept of cultural heritage to include, for instance, the connection with the natural environment, but also the expansion and deepening the very idea of training. The vital need for communities to be included and engaged in heritage conservation has led to a shift towards the broader idea of capacity building. [DIA 9] The need for this expansion becomes more and more pertinent when we consider the destruction of heritage due to conflicts and civil unrest over the last 20 years. Even if it was not by consensus of the population s majority
2 in the case of destruction in the Yugoslavian war, or in the Bamiyan Valley in Afghanistan in 2001, the absence or at least the weak effect of the eventual disagreement of the population shows clearly that the value of heritage was not deeply rooted in the community, certainly not at the level to consider such destruction as a crime towards humanity. [DIA 10] The European or Western provenance of the many so-called ISIL foreign fighters implicitly or explicitly approving the destruction of heritage in Mossul, Niniveh, Hatra, Assur, Fallujah, etc., demonstrates that all countries, even in the Western world, have a long way to go in terms of successfully raising awareness and sensitizing all their people to respect the sacredness of all types of heritage for all human beings. We have become very good in our restoration centers, in Universities in the philological restoration of artefacts, in the conservation of sites and environments, and the same ICCROM has contributed significantly to this technical quality. But this still touches a limited part of society. Not the poor, not the disaffected, not the expatriates, not the majority of people living in sites out of the World Heritage List. Now the Syrian-Iraqi circumstances, as that in Libya and in Yemen, puts us again in front a dramatic situation. UNESCO, and the international community caring for heritage and its conservation, are almost powerless to stop the destructions on the ground. [DIA 11] Of course, we can express our severe condemnation, from the Sharjah Statement during the Symposium on Conservation of Cultural Heritage in Times of Crisis, held by ICCROM-ATHAR Regional Centre on 16 December 2014 whose results were adopted by the Ministers of Culture of the Arab States in their meeting in Riyadh on 14 January 2015 (Resolution 23 of the 19th Session of the Conference of Ministers Responsible for Cultural Affairs). This last resolution calls to the importance of promoting cooperation among the Arab states and regional organisations in charge of addressing the challenges arising from the on-going conflict, as well as to review current policies relevant to heritage management and protection in times of conflicts. We could remember the strong statement by the High Representative/Vice-President Federica Mogherini on the situation in
3 Palmyra, 21 May 2015: "Palmyra is a symbol of Syria's rich cultural heritage and has been a crossroad of civilisation throughout history. Da'esh's mass killings and deliberate destruction of archaeological and cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq amount to a war crime according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The EU has taken all the appropriate steps in accordance with UNSCR 2199 to prevent the illegal trade of cultural property; such illicit traffic of cultural artefacts, directly contributes to the financing of ISIL/Da'esh and other terrorist organizations. We support the United Nations efforts to find a political solution that could bring an end to a 4 years conflict in Syria and the efforts of the anti-daesh coalition to stop the spreading of the terrorist organization". [DIA 12] Or the last one, on 3 July 2015 by the Director-General Irina Bokova after the destruction of funerary busts and the famous Lion Statue of Athena, located at the entrance of the museum of Palmyra (" These new destructions of cultural goods of the site of Palmyra reflect the brutality and ignorance of extremist groups and their disregard of local communities and of the Syrian people"); we can denounce that their destruction is a new attempt to break the bonds between people and their history, to deprive them of their cultural roots in order to better enslave them" and calling once again "all religious leaders, intellectuals, young people, to stand up against the manipulation of religion, to respond to the false arguments of extremists in all media and through the campaign #unite4heritage.. And we can share the confidence that neither bombs nor jackhammers can erase this great culture from the memory of the world. Nothing can ever stifle human creativity - despite the obstacles and fanaticism, this energy will come back stronger than before, buildings and sites will be rehabilitated, and some will be rebuilt, and culture will find its place because it embodies the vitality of societies. These declarations are reflected, at regional scale, by hundreds similar issued by national and local governments, NGOs, cultural organizations all over the world and all are precious to declare which is the right way of thinking. [DIA 13] But at the same time more concrete actions on the field, even if still limited, can be done. We can monitor the destruction like what is being done
4 with UNESCO s Observatory on Syrian heritage ( https://en.unesco.org/syrianobservatory/) using mostly geo-spatial technologies and eventually combining the data from satellite images with information from the field. [DIA 14] Similar initiatives have taken place in the US, like the ASOR Syrian Heritage initiative (www.asor-syrianheritage.org) a cooperation between the American Schools of Oriental Research and the US Dept. of State (two meetings in San Diego, 2014 and in Washington 2015 and the publication online of a weekly report, today at the issue n. 44); whereas the Getty Conservation Institute and the World Monument Fund launched a new release of their open access inventory and mapping system, Arches, to collaborate with the initiative. In Europe the Victoria and Albert Museum in collaboration with the Institute for the Preservation of Cultural Heritage at Yale University hosted on 14 April 2015 a "Culture in crisis Conference" to raise awareness in the world of the museums which issued a "London Declaration"; whereas the Museum of Islamic Art of Berlin and the German Archaeological Institute launched the "Syrian Heritage Archive Project" to systematically archive in digital format and evaluate the documentation of their very rich collections as a tool for future restorations.". Another meeting to make the point of the situation has been held in Paris at the headquarters of UNesco on the First of June 2015 as a Joint U.S. Department of State and UNESCO Roundtable entitled "Despoiled and Destroyed: ancient Civilizations of Iraq and Syria". In short, the most of the experts and institutions (Museums, Universities) having direct experience of the heritage of the region are involved in the professional networks established to follow the situation and provide reliable information. To be prepared for the reconstruction process, putting together solid and viable projects based on quality expertise will be essential for Syria s future, when the restoration of the country s heritage will be an essential part of the economic, social and spiritual recovery of the country. To be prepared, care of the inventories and documentation of heritage will be crucial.
5 [DIA 15] One of the meetings organized by UNESCO, in the framework of the Emergency safeguarding of the Syrian Cultural Heritage project, funded by the European Union, with the support of the Flemish Government, dealt with this issue: "Improving Inventories of Built, Movable and Intangible Cultural Heritage from 16 to 18 February 2015, and it was attended by the main institutions working in this field. ICCROM participated with the Syrian Directorate-General of Museums and Antiquities (DGAM), UNESCO, ICOM, ICOMOS, and many other scientific institutions. In the meantime another important activity is to train the professionals on the field to deal with destructions: how to avoid them (through evacuation of movable artefacts to a safe place, sheltering the immovable etc.), how to document the damages etc. [DIA 16] ICCROM s expertise in this field started before the Syrian crisis in the aftermath of the "Arab Spring" with a course in Italy some years ago, in 2010. [DIA 17] The ICCROM courses look for a snowball effect, training possible trainers. This happened whit one of the Rome Course trainees, Abdel Hamid Salah, who after returning in Egypt, established and trained a local team of cultural heritage rescuers. The effectiveness of the course was proved when Cairo s Museum of Islamic Art was badly damaged by a suicide car bomb in 2014. The new Egyptian first aid team was in fact among the first to enter the site and begin assessing damage, stabilizing the collections and creating plans for temporary storage, a case which was reported as a good practice by the international press. [DIA 18] Based on this and other experiences, and thanks to the fact that ICCROM has maintained its institutional contacts in the affected countries including Libya, Yemen and Iraq, our ICCROM-ATHAR Center in the Emirates has developed similar training workshops for Syria in close collaboration with ICOMOS and the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums in Damascus, which, on its side, has also been in constant contact and provided shared information from
6 the ground at their website that includes an interactive map of damages in the country (http://www.dgam.gov.sy/damages/ehomepage.php). [DIA 19] The most recent training activity was again in the framework of the UNESCO s Emergency Safeguarding of the Syrian Cultural Heritage project. They are two courses cared by the ICCROM-ATHAR Regional Centre with the UNESCO Office Beirut and the Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage Bahrain (ARC-WH) which have been carried out in 26 Nov- 6 Dec 2014, and 1-10 June 2015. The last one brought together 23 architects, restoration experts, civil engineers, museum curators and archaeologists from major Syrian cities and the country' s cultural institutions, including the Damascus National Museum, Old Damascus, Aleppo, Homs, Crac des Chevaliers, Daraa, Der Ez-Zor, and Lattakia. The programme was composed of four main modules: rapid documentation; damage assessment and structural analysis; risk assessment and management; and working with local communities. Another two-week regional workshop on Building National Capacities for Managing Risks to Cultural Heritage in Case of Emergency has been organized in Cairo, benefiting trainees from Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Egypt and Sudan and has been carried out by ICCROM in partnership with ALECSO, the Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization, and the UNESCO Office in Cairo. Another special course on Building National Capacities for Libyan Professionals in First Aid and Risk Preparedness for Cultural Heritage, has been held in Djerba, Tunisia, by ICCROM-ATHAR Regional Conservation Centre and the UNESCO Office in Cairo, from 12 to 15 June 2015 ("http://www.unesco.org/new/en/cairo"). Just to complete the scenario it's forthcoming an experts meeting on the protection of Cultural Heritage of Yemen, in the next two days, on 15 and 16 July 2015. In view of it, ICCROM developed with UNESCO-Doha damage assessment strategies and educational initiatives on first aid to cultural heritage in time of conflict.
7 Needless to say, much informations on the situation on the field comes through this net of former trainees of these courses. As one of the most evident consequences is the expansion of illegal excavations, and the ISIL has established in the areas under its control local archaeological authorities for issuing permits to loot archaeological sites and exploit the trade of the objects found in these excavations, after the resolution 2199 of the UN Security Council of 12 February 2015 1, some countries like the US have also taken measures to prevent the import of illicitly excavated objects. [DIA 20] US in fact passed in early June the H.R. 1493 Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act 114th Congress (2015-2016), whose rationale is To protect and preserve international cultural property at risk due to political instability, armed conflict, or natural or other disasters, and for other purposes. The Department of State, noting that the expanding worldwide trade in objects of archaeological and ethnological interest has led to wholesale depredations in some countries, resulting in the mutilation of ceremonial centers and archaeological complexes of ancient civilizations and the removal of stone sculptures and reliefs (and further) that, on ground of principle, good foreign relations, and concern for the preservation of the cultural heritage of mankind, [the U.S.] should render assistance in these situations. In order to ensure that existing laws and regulations, including import restrictions imposed through the Office of Foreign Asset Control of the Department of the Treasury, are fully implemented to prevent trafficking in stolen 1 the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2199 (2015), which [r]eaffirms its decision in paragraph 7 of resolution 1483 (2003) and decides that all Member States shall take appropriate steps to prevent the trade in Iraqi and Syrian cultural property and other items of archaeological, historical, cultural, rare scientific, and religious importance illegally removed from Iraq since 6 August 1990 and from Syria since 15 March 2011, including by prohibiting cross-border trade in such items, thereby allowing for their eventual safe return to the Iraqi and Syrian people. United Nations Security Council resolution 2199 (2015) also warns that ISIL and other extremist groups are trafficking cultural heritage items from Iraq and Syria to fund their recruitment efforts and carry out terrorist attacks.
8 or looted cultural property, the Secretary of State shall designate an United States Coordinator for International Cultural Property Protection for coordinating and promoting efforts to protect international cultural property, especially activities that involve multiple Federal agencies. One of the goals of this new figure of Coordinator will be to develop strategies to reduce illegal trade and trafficking in international cultural property in the United States and abroad, including by reducing consumer demand for such trade ; to support activities to assist countries that are the principle sources of trafficked cultural property to protect cultural heritage sites and to prevent cultural property looting and theft, to work with and consult domestic and international actors such as foreign governments, intergovernmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations, museums, educational institutions, and research institutions to protect international cultural property. [DIA 21] As an emergency measure of protection for Syrian Cultural Property, the President shall apply the import restrictions in emergency condition ( referred in the section 304 of the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act) with respect to any archaeological or ethnological material of Syria, except in the case that it should be temporarily located in the United States for protection purposes (it shall be returned to the foreign owner or custodian). In this case, the President grants a waiver that the specified cultural property that is the subject of the waiver shall be placed in the temporary custody of the United States Government or in the temporary custody of a cultural or educational institution within the United States for the purpose of protection, restoration, conservation, study, or exhibition, without profit. A similar measure had already been taken even before the UN resolution 2199 by the Council of the European Union, on 13 December 2013 by the Decision 2013/760/CFSP which amended the Decision 2013/255/CFSP concerning restrictive measures against Syria. The introduction of the new art 13a prohibits the "import, export, transfer or provide relating brokering service for cultural property and other items of archaeological, historic, cultural, rare scientific, and religious importance which have been illegally removed from Syria, or where
9 reasonable suspicion exists that they have been illegally removed from Syria, on or after 9 May 2011. The prohibition shall not apply if it is shown that the cultural items are being safely returned to their legitimate owners in Syria". It is up to the experts in international law to evaluate if these measures are sufficient to prevent illicit trade, or at least to facilitate the return after the war; what could happen outside EU and US and if there is some action or moral suasion that could be exercised on the countries that have not yet adopted similar measures. This leads us to the strong consideration of the importance to consolidate and support through an effective coordination, at the European level with a capacity of international synergies, such as the one with UNESCO groups of experts (composed by experts in penal, international, civil law, and specialist in the various branches of heritage, both at national and international levels) to monitor the traffic in transit, market countries, as well as informal networks, such as the EU CULTNET; 2 There are some relevant weaknesses in these provisions. When dealing with some categories of artifacts, which for some periods were very similar in all the Near and Middle East, it could be difficult for customs officials, and even for professionals, to determine if for some objects "reasonable suspicion exists that they have been illegally removed from Syria" on the basis of the typological Red List [DIA 22] published by ICOM. Therefore more detailed studies have to be carried out and published to refine the Red List - a first update for Iraq has been announced on 2 June 2015 in a conference at the Louvre (http://icom.museum/resources/red-lists-databases/red-list/iraq) in order to fight against the trafficking. And perhaps also, the principle of the good faith purchaser of cultural properties should be revised. 2 http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/illicit-trafficking-of-cultural-property/partnerships/europeanunion/
10 Finally, coming back to the destruction of heritage carried out by people that we assumed were sharing at the very least, the most basic principles of our idea of cultural heritage, I think that it is very important what I just mentioned in the beginning of my speech when I said that our way of educating to understand heritage values only touches a very limited part of society; not the poor or marginalized, not all of the immigrants, nor their children. [DIA 23] Now, we are witnessing an exodus of Biblical proportions, from many areas of the world for many reasons. Only the Syrian refugees have been estimated just a couple of days ago as many as 11.6 million displaced. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), over 4 million have fled to Syria's immediate neighbours Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. 7.6 million are internally displaced within Syria. Meanwhile, about 150,000 Syrians have declared asylum in the European Union. According the UN refugees commissioner, Antonio Gutierrez, we face in Syria the largest displacement of people because of a single war in our generation s time. The EU is a leading contributor of humanitarian aid to the region. I would ask to integrate into the SHARP (Syrian Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan) a slot for cultural heritage initiatives, especially for the youngest generations as rightly pointed out Ms Bokova launching the campaign World Heritage in Young Hands, as well as facilitating access opportunities to refugees in European Museums, most of them rich with Syrian artefacts, and promoting organizing special exhibitions with catalogues in Arabic. Besides the pride of the precious archaeological and artistic objects from Syria or Iraq in our Museums (and that ISIL has sometimes labelled as the Crusaders heritage), some others, apparently, simple actions, could show them also our understanding and sympathy for their everyday living heritage and the common things that they have lost: the simple little mosques of their native villages, the fountain and the big tree in the square. We invented in Europe the ecomuseums or community museums, to reinforce the sense of communities; we could add to the supplies they need,
11 something similar, helping them to collect and share pictures, objects and stories, in order not to cut the memory chain between their lost homeland and the refugee camps. These intangible values can mitigate their desperation and add a token of solidarity, which in the future could make these people, and ourselves, perceive each other as less culturally different and separate. I hope to have given you some hints and I am at your disposal for every question. Thank you,