news13 maggio 2024

Launch of the Celebrations for the 70th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict

The PROCULTHER-NET project coordinated by the Department also contributes

70° anniversario della Convenzione UNESCO per la protezione dei beni culturali in caso di conflitto armato

On 14 and 15 May 2024, at The Hague, the Kingdom of the Netherlands will launch the celebrations foreseen for the 70th anniversary of the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict with the International Conference “Cultural Heritage and Peace: Building on 70 years of UNESCO Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict”.

The Convention - signed in The Hague in 1954 - was the first international legal framework entirely dedicated to the protection of movable and immovable heritage, setting a precedent for the preservation of heritage in international humanitarian law.

During this two-day event, participants will take stock of the results, lessons learnt and future orientations for the way forward to the effective implementation of this international treaty and its two Protocols of 1954 and 1999.

The PROCULTHER-NET (Protecting Cultural Heritage from the Consequences of Disasters-Network) project, coordinated by the Department in the framework of the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, will also join the celebrations and will be present in the ‘Good Practice’ area of the ‘Networking Agora’ space with the aim of making the initiative known to new interested actors and promote knowledge exchange within the Mechanism, so as to better address the challenges arising from new emerging risks and strengthen national and European crisis preparedness capacities.

The project will bring to the Agora the knowledge and tools developed within PROCULTHER, but also the results achieved with PROCULTHER-NET, as well as the objectives and the challenges to be faced by PROCULTHER-NET 2, the new ongoing phase operating within the Union Civil Protection Knowledge Network and aimed at implementing the path traced by the previous projects so as to consolidate the inclusion of the protection of cultural heritage at risk sector in the UCPM processes and structures.

PROCULTHER-NET advocacy actions in the framework of the Hague Convention celebrations will continue with the participation in the meeting “Milestones & ways to go for cultural property protection 70 years of the Hague Convention” scheduled for next 2 July and hosted by the Austrian Permanent Representation to the EU.