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STORY: UN / CULTURAL HERITAGE TERRORISM
TRT: 02:40
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 30 NOVEMBER 2017, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
30 NOVEMBER 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, Security Council
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Audrey Azoulay Director-General, UNESCO:
“The adoption of Resolution 2347 represents a major breakthrough, and it testifies to a new awareness on the importance of culture, not only to respond to conflicts but also to prevent radicalization and fight violent extremism. It represents a paradigm shift in the way the international community approaches cultural heritage protection. This Report shows that Resolution 2347 has already resulted in the adoption of strong regulations and growing efforts to document, preserve and safeguard cultural heritage at risk.”
4. Med shot, speakers
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Vladimir Ivanovich Voronkov, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Office:
“When terrorist groups target world heritage sites it’s an attack on our common historical roots and cultural diversity. Additionally, the looting and illicit trafficking of cultural objects leads to the financing of terrorism and criminal networks. The protection of cultural heritage has therefore become a vitally important task for the international community.”
6. Med shot, Azoulay
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Alessandro Bianchi, Project Leader, Cultural Heritage Protection, Ministry of Culture, Italy:
“Lootings and illegal excavations are sources of income for criminal gangs and terrorist groups. Countless destruction has occurred in the past twenty-five years: churches, mosques, archaeological sites have been violated, while looted items have helped a flourishing illegal market. It is important to remind that terrorists are not only pursuing financial gains. They want much more; they want to destroy the identities of a people and to dismantle legitimate systems with violence.”
8. Wide shot, Council
9. Wide shot, Azulay at the stakeout podium
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Audrey Azoulay Director-General, UNESCO:
“To protect, to restore cultural patrimony, is not just protecting stones, it is protecting history in its diversity, to give back dignity to suffering populations, traumatised populations, to permit sustainable economic development based on heritage once conflict is over.”
11. Pan right, Azoulay walks away
The new Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Audrey Azoulay, told the Security Council today (30 Nov) that the adoption this March of Resolution 2347 “represents a major breakthrough, which testifies to a new awareness on the importance of culture, not only to respond to conflicts but also to prevent radicalization and fight violent extremism.”
Azoulay, addressing a meeting on the destruction and trafficking of cultural heritage by terrorist groups and in situations of armed conflict, said the adoption of the resolution “represents a paradigm shift in the way the international community approaches cultural heritage protection.”
She said the report of the Secretary-General on the implementation of the resolution, shows that it “has already resulted in the adoption of strong regulations and growing efforts to document, preserve and safeguard cultural heritage at risk.”
Since the adoption, 29 Member States have shared information on new actions taken to protect cultural heritage, strengthening tools and training of specialized personnel, reinforcing international cooperation and information sharing.
Vladimir Voronkov, the new head of the UN Office on Counter-Terrorism, told the Council that “when terrorist groups target world heritage sites it’s an attack on our common historical roots and cultural diversity,” he added that “the looting and illicit trafficking of cultural objects leads to the financing of terrorism and criminal networks.”
The Project Leader of Cultural Heritage Protection of Italy said that “lootings and illegal excavations are sources of income for criminal gangs and terrorist groups.”
He stressed that terrorists are not only pursuing financial gains, “they want much more; they want to destroy the identities of a people and to dismantle legitimate systems with violence.”
After the meeting, Azoulay told reporters that “to protect, to restore cultural patrimony, is not just protecting stones, it is protecting history in its diversity, to give back dignity to suffering populations, traumatised populations, to permit sustainable economic development based on heritage once conflict is over.”
