UNESCO Chief to Visit Egypt
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
5/18/2015 Ahram Online UNESCO chief to visit Egypt UNESCO chief to visit Egypt Rana Gohar, , Tuesday 12 May 2015 Irina Bokova is to launch the ‘#Unite4Heritage’ campaign in Egypt, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities UNESCO DirectorGeneral Irina Bokova is to arrive in Cairo on Tuesday for toplevel meetings to discuss cooperation between the UN agency and Egypt. In a press statement issued on Tuesday, UNESCO said Bokova would tackle cooperation in education, culture, science and development. Bokova, during her twoday visit, will meet Egypt's President Abdel Fattah ElSisi and several ministers. She will be accompanied by President of the UNESCO Executive Board Mohamed Amr, as well as Egypt’s ambassador and permanent delegate to UNESCO. "Bokova will launch the ‘#Unite4Heritage’ campaign in Egypt in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities aiming at mobilising the international, regional and local efforts to protect and preserve threatened heritage and to stand against the sectarian propaganda campaigns via different social networks and Internet", the statement was quoted as saying. "The campaign will be launched in the afternoon of Wednesday 13 May 2015 at the Museum of Islamic Art with a stand showing solidarity against vandalism and terrorism with the participation of numerous Egyptian youth and representatives of a number of official and international bodies." http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/130086.aspx http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentPrint/1/0/130086/Egypt/0/UNESCOchieftovisitEgypt.aspx 1/1 Cairo Declaration to protect Middle East cultural heritage - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ah... Page 1 of 2 Last Update 15:31 About Us Sign in Monday, 18 May 2015 Please enter keyword Home Egypt World Business Opinion Arts & Culture Folk Sports Life & Style Heritage Books Multimedia Cairo Declaration to protect Middle East cultural heritage Readers Picks Most Viewed Most Commented 1. World Museums Day celebration opens Conference examined ways to prevent theft and illegal export of Monday in Egypt cultural and historic artefacts 2. 'Paranoia' at Hanager Theatre: exploration of a troubled woman's mind Nevine El-Aref , Monday 18 May 2015 3. Proverb of the day : When the cow falls down, the knives multiply Print 4. Cairo Declaration to protect Middle East cultural heritage Send Tweet 0 Recommend 0 0 destruction in Mosul After discussions and workshops at a two-day conference, Cultural Property Under Threat, held in Egypt four days ago, six Related recommendations were issued to combat cultural theft. World Museums Day celebration opens Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty told Ahram Online Monday in Egypt that the recommendations were issued under the title Cairo Declaration, and they insist on the launching of a working group New discovery: Gabal Al-Selsila quarries were from the ten Arab countries who participated in the conference: a sacred area in ancient Egypt Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Oman and Egypt. "One God, Three Religions" inaugurated at the Egyptian Museum The working group, he explained, is to play a major role to combat the threat against archaeological and cultural property UNESCO'S campaign #Unite4Heritage in the Middle East, as well as protecting it and preventing its launched from Egypt looting and smuggling abroad. UN, Egypt launch conference against heritage The establishment of an international advisory committee to destruction in Cairo support the working group, as well as suggesting measures to fight against illicit looting and trading of stolen antiquities, is another recommendation. An international cultural awareness campaign in countries that allow trading in antiquities is to be launched very soon in an attempt to decrease the purchasing of stolen antiquities. The conference members agreed on starting discussions to form and sign a cultural and regional memorandum of understanding in collaboration with international partners to prevent trading in plundered cultural artefacts. Establishing an independent agency to fight against antiquities laundering, through providing fake identification certificates to the stolen object, is another recommendation to be discussed with concerned international agencies. The Cultural Property Under Threat (CPUT) conference was officially inaugurated by UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova and Eldamaty. It was organised under the patronage of UNESCO by the Antiquities Coalition and the Middle East Institute, in cooperation with Egypt's ministry of antiquities and foreign affairs. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/130553/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Cairo-Decl... 5/18/2015 Cairo Declaration to protect Middle East cultural heritage - Ancient Egypt - Heritage - Ah... Page 2 of 2 The conference was an attempt to raise awareness throughout the world in an attempt to safeguard cultural heritage in the Middle East and to debate the measures to fight cultural racketeering. It also aims to raise awareness about and find specific solutions to stop the looting of antiquities and terrorist financing. During the two-day conference, several discussions took place between UNESCO, governments, NGOs and the private sector that can either individually or collectively protect the common cultural heritage. Search Keywords: Nevine El-Aref | recommendations | cultural property under threat | conference | egypt | antiquities | Short link: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/130553.aspx Email Name Comment's Title Comment 1000 character left Ahram Online welcomes readers' comments on all issues covered by the site, along with any criticisms and/or corrections. Readers are asked to limit their feedback to a maximum of 1000 characters (roughly 50 words). All comments/criticisms will, however, be subject to the following code © 2010 Ahram Online. Advertising http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/130553/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/Cairo-Decl... 5/18/2015 UN, Egypt launch conference against heritage destruction in Cairo - Ancient Egypt - Heri... Page 1 of 2 Last Update 15:42 About Us Sign in Monday, 18 May 2015 Please enter keyword Home Egypt World Business Opinion Arts & Culture Folk Sports Life & Style Heritage Books Multimedia UN, Egypt launch conference against heritage destruction in Cairo Readers Picks Most Viewed Most Commented 1. World Museums Day celebration opens The Cultural Property Under Threat conference inaugurated today Monday in Egypt discusses measures to fight against cultural racketeering 2. 'Paranoia' at Hanager Theatre: exploration of a troubled woman's mind Nevine El-Aref , Wednesday 13 May 2015 3. Proverb of the day : When the cow falls down, the knives multiply Print 4. Cairo Declaration to protect Middle East cultural heritage Send Tweet 4 Recommend 6 0 Views:297 UNESCO's Director General Irina Bokova and Minister of Antiquities Mamdouh Eldamaty inaugurated today The Cultural Property Under Threat (CPUT) conference. The conference is an attempt to raise awareness throughout the world in an attempt to safeguard cultural heritage in the Middle East and to debate the measures to fight cultural racketeering. It also aims to raise awareness about and find specific solutions to stop the looting of antiquities and terrorist financing. During the two-day conference, several discussions will take place between UNESCO, governments, NGO's and the private sector that can either individually or collectively protect the common cultural heritage. The CPUT is organised under the patronage of UNESCO by the Antiquities Coalition and the Middle East Institute, in cooperation with Egypt's ministry of antiquities and foreign affairs. During the opening session Eldamty called for the amendment of the UNESCO Convention of 1970 that stipulates the return of all looted and illegally smuggled antiquities after 1970 to its homeland. Eldamaty wants the amendment to include antiquities that were looted and smuggled before 1970. He said that 15 countries attended the conference. Ten of them were from Arab countries, including Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E and Oman. Irina Bokova highlighted Egypt's responsibility and efforts to return back its looted and smuggled artefacts. "Egypt has succeeded in proving to the whole world its capability to protect its cultural heritage. An example of this is when the public made a human chain to protect the Egyptian Museum at Tahrir Square on 28 January 2011. She also sent her gratitude to Egypt for organising and hosting the conference at such a critical time when destruction and looting of antiquities has reached an unprecedented level. Bokova also asserted that UNESCO played a major role in the 1960's to salvage Nubian temples. She added that it is important to have the same cooperation between Egyptian NGOs and the private sector to protect the Middle East's cultural property and human heritage from looting and destruction, such as in Iraq and Syria currently. "We need full cooperation between security and concerned antiquities authorities, as well as to work on the regional and international levels in order to solve such problems," Bokova asserted. http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/9/40/130143/Heritage/Ancient-Egypt/UN,-Egypt... 5/18/2015 UN, Egypt launch conference against heritage destruction in Cairo - Ancient Egypt - Heri... Page 2 of 2 Hamdi Loza, Egypt's assistant of the minister of foreign affairs for Africa announced that during the last three weeks, Egypt succeeded in returning back 5000 artefacts from the United States, France and a