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STORY: UN / CULTURAL HERITAGE
TRT: 02:41
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 24 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY
RECENT - NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, UNHQ exterior
24 MARCH 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. Pan left, Council Members voting
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Jeffrey Feltman, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, United Nations:
“Terrorist groups like ISIL exploit cultural sites to finance their activities while strengthening their linkages with transnational organized crime. And they destroy and traffic cultural heritage to undermine the power of culture as a bridge between generations, people of different backgrounds and religions. Today's resolution aims to strengthen international cooperation to deprive terrorists of funding, but also to protect cultural heritage as a symbol of understanding and respect for all religions, beliefs and civilizations.”
5. Wide shot, Feltman address Security Council
6. SOUNDBITE (French) Irina Bokova, Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization:
“Cultural heritage is witness to the dialogue of cultures that has always existed to the past all humanity shares and the future we all hold in common. Extremists know this and that is why they seek to destroy it.”
7. Wide shot, Security Council
8. SOUNDBITE (French) Irina Bokova, Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization:
“The force of weapons, ladies and gentlemen, is not enough to defeat violent extremism. Building peace requires culture also. It requires education, prevention, and the transmission of heritage. This is the message, I hope, of this historic resolution and its immense scope.”
9. Med shot, Feltman and British delegate
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Audrey Azoulay, Minister of Culture and Communication, France:
“This resolution is a resolution which invites us collectively to wisdom and respect for a long time. It works for peace to prevent the cultural heritage from being destroyed in a murderous attempt to rewrite history. It is to work for peace by preventing this heritage of people from being hijacked to finance violence and crimes against their own history. That is the meaning of the resolution we just adopted this morning.”
11. Pan left, officials approaching stakeout
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Vincenzo Amendola, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy:
“This is an historic resolution because for the first time we are affirming, in terms of a worldwide community, in term of UN, that we have to react and there is a cultural dimension in fighting terrorism; and of course in preventing and solving conflict.”
13. Wide shot, Bokova addressing the press
14. SOUNDBITE (French) Irina Bokova, Director-General, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization:
“I think today indeed is an historic monument, putting the dots together between security, protection of heritage, the humanitarian aspects, respect for human rights and human dignity, and human diversity.”
15. Wide shot, officials leaving stakeout
UN political chief Jeffrey Feltman said the resolution unanimously adopted by the Security Council aimed to “protect cultural heritage as a symbol of understanding and respect for all religions, beliefs and civilizations.”
The Security Council adopted Resolution 2347 today (24 Mar) on preventing the destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage by terrorists and armed groups, which was drafted by France and Italy. Speaking at the meeting, said terrorist groups like ISIL exploit cultural sites to finance their operations and undermine the power of culture as a bridge between generations, people of different backgrounds and religions. He said the resolution provided a good basis help countries strengthen their criminal justice systems to prevent and respond to terrorists' attacks against their cultural heritage.
UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage is a war crime and a tactic of war used in a global strategy of cultural cleansing. She said that is why defending cultural heritage is inseparable from defending human lives. Bokova stressed that weapons were not enough to defeat violent extremism and building peace required “education, prevention, and the transmission of heritage. She hoped this was the message of this “historic resolution and its immense scope.”
French Minister of Culture said Audrey Azoulay said protecting cultural heritage was an issue of civilization and ethics, but also of security. She said funds raised from trafficking illicit artifacts were being used by terrorist groups to perpetuate and intensify conflicts. She said this was the first resolution to deal exclusively with the protection of cultural heritage during armed conflict which invites the international community “collectively to wisdom and respect for a long time.” Azoulay stressed the resolution worked for peace to prevent the cultural heritage from being “destroyed in a murderous attempt” to rewrite history and from being “hijacked” to finance violence.
Speaking to the press following the Council meeting, Italian Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Vincenzo Amendola, called the resolution “historic” because it affirmed for the first time “that we have to react and there is a cultural dimension in fighting terrorism; and of course in preventing and solving conflict.”
Also speaking to reporters Bokova said it was clear for UNESCO that the protection of heritage was the best way to create resilience in societies to recognize the past and look to the future because it is so strongly linked with identities. She said she was overwhelmed by the adoption of the resolution as it was an “historic monument” in recognizing the importance of cultural diversity in conflict areas which put “the dots together between security, protection of heritage, the humanitarian aspects, respect for human rights and human dignity, and human diversity.”
