Signs of past

Manama

International Peace Institute for Middle East and North Africa (IPI MENA) and Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage (ARCWH) appealed yesterday to the international community to protect the world heritage sites from the hands of radicals.

In a meeting held at IPI MENA office premises here, they noted the irreparable damage inflicted to the world heritage sites in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and the recent terrorist attack on the national museum of Carthage in Tunisia.

They urged the international organisations and the member countries of the UN to take necessary steps to protect the world heritage sites. Giving a presentation on “Cultural Heritage during Armed Conflicts: International Community’s Duty and Right to Protect,” ARCWH Director Mounir Bouchenaki said that the world heritage sites were being destroyed in the sacred name of Islam. “Radicalism should be eradicated from the minds of the people.”

Speaking at the occasion, Director IPI MENA, Nejib Friji said that they were witnessing strange phenomena that the destruction of world heritage sites was being done in the name of religion. “The world heritage is our DNA, our future generation,” he said. Turkish Ambassador Hatun Demirer demanded that cultural heritage be made part of “our curriculums.”

She also called for crackdown on the illicit trade of cultural artefacts. “If there is no demand from West there will not be any supply from the East. They have to cut this demand and supply chain.”