UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee meeting to conclude

The 17th session of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage will conclude in Morocco today.

The committee is largely responsible for making recommendations on how to best protect cultural heritage sites and cultural heritage as a whole. Recent conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine have seen the destruction or severe damage of key cultural sites. As a result, discussions at the session are likely to revolve around how to secure cultural sites in active conflict zones and potentially how to restore sites damaged during conflicts.

Within the Ukrainian conflict, the protection of cultural heritage has largely involved either structural reinforcement through sandbagging or the digitization of key written works from libraries and museums. The rebuilding, restoration and repair of Ukraine’s cultural sites and artifacts is likely to be a large topic in the aftermath of the ongoing war and could be part of funding already committed to help rebuild Ukraine.