Cultural Heritage is the mirror of a nation’s journey through history

Introduction:

It is an undeniable fact that the cultural heritage of a country is a mirror of its history. It is a nation’s identity, a physical home that reminds them daily of their journey through their existence, the hardships that they have been through, hardships which have shaped their character and have carved a path toward their future. It is never redundant or unnecessary to reiterate how important it is to actively encourage countries to protect their cultural heritage from armed conflict and to respect the cultural heritage of others. Although important, it is not enough to simply regurgitate the facts of the problem. It is necessary to tackle the issue from its root, and in order to do so it is important to know why it is happening in the first place. After all, the solution lies within the problem itself.

The Problem:

This is a topic that has been fought for via UN resolutions, the implementation of legally binding statutes after statutes, excruciatingly long debates and negotiations taking place on international platforms, violating countries of which face sanctions with sharp teeth. However, day after day, we continue to see on the daily news headlines that not only is there a chilling indifference toward protecting cultural heritage, but there is an increasingly vicious trend toward vandalism and destruction of cultural heritage in an attempt to completely demoralize, demolish and wipe out one’s entire history. This leaves me with the realization that action needs to be taken “on the ground”, where the problem originates from, which is from within the countries themselves. The countries are those who have to gain a primary active role in the protection of their heritage through the appropriate policy making and effective implementation thereof.

The very recent destruction of Iraq’s cultural heritage of a 2,000 year old city located 100 KM south of West of Mosul from members of ISIL, the bulldozing of five out of six world heritage sites of Syria, the attack on Tunisian Bardo Museum, are only a few examples of how cultural heritage is being under vicious attack. This is a tactic of “bullying” that seeks to erase any trait of a country’s existence, that threatens a nation to wither away in time, conflict after conflict, without anything to leave behind to tell it’s story. This robs its future generations of memories and knowing their history. It basically results in the ultimate cleansing of one’s country.

The looting of cultural heritage sites results in the illicit trafficking of antiquities, which causes a separate issue that needs to be accounted for as well, since it gives a stronger motive for the destruction of cultural heritage and perseverance thereof. These are all more than good motivational forces to encourage countries to engage their public sector in the raising awareness process, as an initial stage of tackling the issue. More people need to become more aware, and more educated on what the problem truly is, in a manner that is approachable and realistic. After the awareness process, needs to come the concrete policy making process that should be carefully examined and specifically calculated as to hold the directly responsible accountable both on a national and international level.

Conclusion and Policy Recommendation:

Destruction of cultural heritage is a war crime, and the criminal liability for it should reflect nothing less. Although the various UN international resolutions are effective in raising the appropriate awareness to stakeholders and imposing sanctions on those who violate it, it is simply not enough. Individual countries should tackle the issue from the beginning by firstly establishing the appropriate tribunals that would impose domestic sanctions on the criminally liable. After the imposition of liability on a domestic level, the directly accountable would be directed to the international platform to face separate charges.

Another way to tackle the issue would be for governments to conduct relevant investigations to uncover not only those directly responsible for these crimes but also strong supporters of them, and bring them to justice.

Thirdly, although UN Security council resolutions have called for the implementation of bans on the trade of illicit trafficking of antiquities between nations, this needs to be accounted for on a more domestic level. There needs to be analogous domestic laws that promote the ban, while also raising awareness on who the supporters of illicit trafficking are.

Finally, a solid cooperation between the public and private sector to launch initiatives from museums, government, archaeologists, schools and art collectors to help eliminate the purchase of illicit antiquities, would benefit in “nipping the problem at the bud”.

Let us not underestimate the importance of cultural heritage, for life, liberty and property are basic human rights that need to be fought for with nothing less than boldness and iron commitment. As Kay Granger put it “human rights include the rights of all humans, those in the dawn of life, the dusk of life and he shadows of life”.