An appeal for the international community about the destruction of the culture was issued at the opening of the annual meeting of the World Heritage Committee, held this year in Bonn.
In a video message, shown during the opening of the 39th session, German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke of the importance of heritage for our understanding of cultures.
The Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova declared that: “Our response to ignorance and criminal stupidity, must also have a cultural dimension: Knowledge, the sharing of Islam’s millennial learning and wisdom, sharing the message of Palmyra, the Venice of the Sands, that is like a bridge between the legacies of ancient Greece and Rome, the Persian Empire and the Arab culture from ancient times to the present” and spoke of the launch of the #Unite4Heritage campaign in March 2015, in Baghdad.
Maria Böhmer, Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office, member of the Bundestag and chairwoman of the session of the Committee, said: “the fury of terrorist organizations like ISIS in Iraq surpasses our imagination. World Heritage is the foundation of people’s existence and cohesion […]. It is the wellspring of social identity,” she added, invoking the role of culture in peace building.
During the session, the Committee approved the inscription of 27 sites on the World Heritage List of UNESCO.