More than 100,000 people have died in Syria's 2 1/2-year civil war, which has forced millions to flee their homes and created a massive humanitarian crisis. In addition to the loss of life and destruction of property, UNESCO says Syria's cultural heritage - and reporters trying to the cover the war - are increasingly under threat.
"The biggest danger there, apart from the destruction we have seen of the world heritage sites ... is the illicit archeological excavations," Irina Bokova, head of Paris-based UNESCO, told reporters. "This is something that is not very high on the radar of the international community."
Bokova was in New York on Friday to speak at an informal U.N. Security Council meeting hosted by France and Guatemala on the protection of journalists, something she said was an issue of growing concern in Syria and other conflict zones around the world where reporters are being targeted.
Earlier this week international news organizations called on Syrian rebel leaders to stop armed groups kidnapping journalists, saying dozens of abductions were preventing full media coverage of the war.
In February, Maamoun Abdulkarim, head of Syria's antiquities and museums, said illegal archeological digs have threatened tombs in the desert town of Palmyra and the Bronze Age settlement of Ebla.
Bokova said the problem has grown. She said UNESCO has raised the issue of illegal excavations with U.N. Syria peace mediator Lakhdar Brahimi and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby.
"We were showing (them) the map of these illicit sites, excavations," Bokova said. "This is our biggest concern nowadays, that we don't know what's happening there, this illicit trafficking (and) exports" of artifacts.
She did not say whether those involved in such excavations had any alignment with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or rebels seeking to oust him.
"Anybody can do it," she said. Bokova did not disclose details of the locations of the illicit excavations in Syria.
In September UNESCO issued what it called a "red list" of types of artifacts to alert museums, collectors and auction houses what to be on the lookout for from Syria. Bokova said illicit Syrian artifacts have surfaced in neighboring Jordan.
http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=124946
14/12/13
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Syrie: le patrimoine culturel menacé par les fouilles clandestines (UNESCO)....
ReplyDeleteLes fouilles archéologique clandestines effectuées dans la Syrie en guerre constituent une menace "fatale" pour le patrimoine culturel du pays, rapporte jeudi l'agence Associated Press, citant le sous-directeur général de l'UNESCO Francesco Bandarin.
Selon lui, des fouilles sauvages sont pratiquées dans les célèbres sites archéologiques de Mari, d'Ebla, de Palmyre et d'Apamée.
"Toutes ces villes antiques sont affectées par ce phénomène, et dans certaines d'entre elles, il a acquis une ampleur incroyable", a indiqué M. Bandarin, ajoutant que "le site d'Apamée était complètement détruit".
Les objets découverts lors de ces expéditions illégales sont extraits en contrebande de Syrie pour être vendus sur le marché international, a expliqué le diplomate. Pour y mettre un terme, l'UNESCO organise des formations spéciales à l'intention des douaniers et des policiers des pays voisins de la Syrie, mais ces mesures s'avèrent insuffisantes..........http://fr.ria.ru/culture/20140206/200398566.html
6/2/14
Syria’s protection of cultural artifacts ‘only piece of good news’ amid rubble of war, says UN cultural agency......
Delete5 February 2014 – The Syrian Government moved the majority of content from its 34 national museums into safe havens, a senior United Nations official today said, warning that the nearly three-year conflict has nevertheless dealt a major blow to the country’s vast and varied cultural heritage.
“The damages to museums is less important than it would have been otherwise because of this preventive action, which of course we praise and consider very, very important,” said Francesco Bandarin, Assistant Director-General for Culture at the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Briefing journalists in New York, Mr. Bandarin said the preservation of the cultural artefacts is “the only piece of good news” in safeguarding the heritage of the country which is ripped apart by the civil war which since March 2011 has killed more than 100,000 people and driven 8 million from their homes, with 2 million of them seeking refuge in neighbouring countries.
He acknowledged that no one from UNESCO has been able to verify that the National Directorate of Antiquities and Museums in Syria (DGAM) transported the contents nor speak of their current state or safety, but a presentation by DGAM Director Maamoun Abdel-Karim was “convincing enough.”
The presentation was part of a UNESCO organized meeting this past summer in Paris, attended also by the Joint Special Representative of the UN and the League of Arab States for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi who last week got the anti- and pro-Government sides to sit at the negotiating table for the first time.
“The situation in Syria is not only dominated by the conflict,” Mr. Bandarin said, “but also the loss of control of territory by local governments.”.................http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=47085&Cr=syria&Cr1=#.UvOBGPtTNqg
5/2/14
UN thanks Hollywood amid fight to save Syria's heritage....
ReplyDeleteThe United Nations thanked Hollywood on Wednesday for raising awareness of cultural crimes during conflict with the movie "The Monuments Men" as the world body tries to stop the pillaging of Syria's heritage during the country's three-year civil war.
UNESCO, the U.N. cultural, education and science arm, has in the past month started to train customs officials and police in neighboring Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan to look for the trafficking of cultural objects out of Syria, said Francesco Bandarin, assistant director-general for culture at the agency.
Bandarin said the new Hollywood film - which tells the story of experts tasked with retrieving artistic treasure stolen by the Nazis during World War Two - would raise global awareness of the illegal trade in artifacts stolen during more recent conflicts, such as Syria, Mali and Libya.
"I would like to thank Hollywood for bringing this issue to global attention because sometimes Hollywood is more powerful than all the U.N. system put together," Bandarin said of the film, which opens in North America on Friday and stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett.
"This issue of heritage protection will be on everybody's mind and for us this is a tremendous opportunity," he told reporters at the United Nations in New York.
The European Union gave UNESCO 2.5 million euros ($3.4 million)this week to establish a team in Beirut to gather better information on the situation in Syria, to fight the trafficking of artifacts and to raise awareness internationally and locally, he said...................http://www.todayszaman.com//news-338621-un-thanks-hollywood-amid-fight-to-save-syrias-heritage.html
6/2/14
Syrian heritage being destroyed by extremists ....
ReplyDeleteIslamic fundamentalists in Syria have started to destroy archaeological treasures such as Byzantine mosaics and Greek and Roman statues because their portrayal of human beings is contrary to their religious beliefs. In mid-January the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis), an al-Qa’ida-type movement controlling much of north-east Syria, blew up and destroyed a sixth-century Byzantine mosaic near the city of Raqqa on the Euphrates.
The official head of antiquities for Raqqa province, who has fled to Damascus and does not want his name published, told The Independent: “It happened between 12 and 15 days ago. A Turkish businessman had come to Raqqa to try to buy the mosaic. This alerted them to its existence and they came and blew it up. It is completely lost.”................http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_02_12/Syrian-heritage-being-destroyed-by-extremists-6293/
12/2/14