News
Conference on the destruction and dispersion of cultural heritage
On 9 February in a packed room in Paris, participants discussed the destruction of cultural heritage at the conference on the destruction and dispersion of cultural heritage during armed conflict. The event was organised under the scientific leadership of Vincent Négri, an ICOM expert on illicit traffic and one of the main contributors to the Libyan Red List. The current relevance of the topic motivated La Fabrique Juridique du Patrimoine Culturel to take a broader look at the subject in order to better grasp and understand the issues facing our societies.
The day-long conference was held on 9 February 2016 and focused on three main topics: the role of international law in protecting cultural heritage in danger, the activities of non-state actors, and post-conflict restoration and reconstruction.The conference provided an opportunity for non-state actors such as the International Council of Museums (ICOM) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) to reaffirm their vital role in fighting the illicit traffic of cultural goods. Guest speaker France Desmarais, ICOM's Director of Programmes and Partnerships, stated that "exceptional times call for exceptional measures" and that when it comes to protecting heritage, "we need strong actions and signals". Aware that the fight against illicit traffic must constantly adapt to emergency situations and new practices, ICOM recently developed two new tools: the Emergency Red List of Libyan Cultural Objects at Risk and a book entitled "Countering Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods: The Global Challenge of Protecting the World's Heritage". These two documents are the newest additions to an already long list of ICOM resources aimed at protecting heritage in danger, including the international standard Object ID, the One Hundred Missing Objects collection, the International Observatory on Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods, and 14 previous Red Lists.