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16.07.2015 - UNESCO Office in Doha

Safeguarding Yemen’s cultural heritage

©UNESCO

Yemen has a number of unique cultural heritage sites which are considered some of the most important sites not only in the Arabian Peninsula but also in the world. Yemen has three cultural sites on the World Heritage List (Old Walled City of Shibam, Old City of Sana’a, Historic Town of Zabid), one of which is also inscribed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, one natural site (Socotra Archipelago), and ten sites on the Tentative List.

Since the outbreak of fighting, however, the damage of many significant cultural heritage sites by bombings has been reported. The city of Sana’a, the Old City of Sa’adah which is included on Yemen’s Tentative List, the archaeological site of the pre-Islamic walled city of Baraqish, the ancient city of Marib and the Great Dam of Marib, and the Dhamar Museum are among those which suffered destructions.

 

The situation is also causing a serious disruption of many practices of intangible cultural heritage, depriving communities living on the Yemeni territory of important assets in their daily lives.

 

Since the outbreak of the conflict, UNESCO, together with its partners, has done its utmost to save the affected heritage sites from attacks in line with the principles of the 1954 Hague Conventions and its two Protocols and the 1972 World Heritage Convention, calling on all parties involved to refrain from targeting these sites. UNESCO has also been collecting information on the damage made to heritage sites, and coordinating among different partners in order to harmonize their responses.

 

In light of the current emergency situation in Yemen, UNESCO is organizing two-day expert meeting for the safeguarding of Yemen’s cultural heritage at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 15-16 July 2015, bringing together experts on built heritage, archaeology, intangible cultural heritage, handicrafts, museums and archives as well as representatives from organisations such as ICOMOS, ICOM, ICCROM, IFLA, UNIDROIT, Interpol, the World Custom Organization, ARC-WH, British Museum, UNOSAT, and UNESCO.

 

The objective of the meeting is to coordinate the international response, by gathering key institutional stakeholders and international experts working on cultural heritage in Yemen to (1) establish a coordination mechanism among different parties in order to harmonize the response, (2) examine the current situation of cultural heritage in Yemen affected by the airstrikes carried out by the coalition, (3) share information on initiatives undertaken by different partners so far in order to protect Yemen’s cultural heritage, and (4) define a strategy for the emergency safeguarding of Yemen’s cultural heritage and identify specific activities that could be carried out by all involved partners in close cooperation with the Yemeni authorities, to be shared with the latter for their consideration.

 

The meeting will be followed by an information meeting organized by the Director-General with the Member States of UNESCO.




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