Organized by France and the United Arab Emirates, an international conference on endangered heritage is being held until December 3 in Abu Dhabi.
The ancient city of Palmyra, in Syria, victim of the destruction of Daesh.
HERITAGE. More than ever, heritage is a political tool of soft power of our diplomacy of influence, as evidenced by the international conference on endangered heritage organized by France and the United Arab Emirates under the aegis of Unesco, which is being held today until December 3, 2016 in Abu Dubai. This initiative aims, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to raise awareness and mobilize States to protect universal heritage sites threatened by conflict. There is urgency after Bamiyan and the destruction of the giant Buddhas, in Afghanistan; that of the mausoleums of Timbuktu in Mali; of the temples of Palmyra, in Syria, or even recently, the annihilation of the multimillennial city of Nimroud, in Iraq.
A first step had been taken with the "50 measures" report presented by Jean-Luc Martinez, President and Director of the Louvre Museum, at the express request of the President of the Republic, François Hollande (read Sciences et Avenir Hors-Série n°185 April/May 2016 ). This time it is the creation of a Global Endowment Fund for the safeguarding of heritage in danger – announced by the Head of State on September 20, 2016, at the Metropolitan Museum in New York – which should be officially created this 2 December, in Abu Dhabi. “We hope to reach at least a hundred million dollars “, even declared Jean-Luc Martinez, during the closing of the 70 th anniversary of the Excavations Commission of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was held in Paris on Wednesday, November 30, 2016, in front of an audience of archaeologists, a profession particularly concerned by these questions.
The creation of refuge establishments
The announcements expected in Abu Dhabi, in addition to the Global Safeguard Fund (which according to the press release should "multiply the projects and the possibilities of intervention “), concern the creation of refuge establishments for the protection of cultural wealth. Projects to preserve and safeguard the memory of peoples which also involve the most cutting-edge technologies, like the spectacular surveys carried out in 3D and using drones, by the French company Iconem, both in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, Iraq or Syria, through the "Syrian Heritage project », works including Sciences et Avenir has often been echoed, and whose leaders will be present at this international meeting. "It is in no way a question of replacing the various sovereign countries for the protection of their heritage, but of helping to finance projects to provide assistance to those who request it . When I started working on the 50 proposals that had been requested of me, I thought it was a sweet dream, but today it is taking shape in Abu Dhabi », concluded Jean-Luc Martinez.