Univocally condemning unlawful destruction and pillaging of cultural heritage such as religious sites and artefacts, the United Nations Security Council today adopted an historic resolution that is expected to strengthen protections for such heritage during armed conflicts where they are most vulnerable.
The deliberate destruction of heritage […] has become a tactic of war to tear societies over the long term, in a strategy of cultural cleansing,??Irina Bokova, the Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization () following the resolution's adoption.
This is why defending cultural heritage is more than a cultural issue, it is a security imperative, inseparable from that of defending human lives, she added.
Today's briefing by Ms. Bokova to the Security Council was the first time a head of UNESCO has been invited in that capacity.
In her briefing, she explained that since the adoption of Resolution 2199 (in 2015), which prohibits trade in cultural property from Iraq and Syria, efforts were well-underway to disrupt terrorist financing through the illicit trafficking of antiquities.
Together, UNESCO, INTERPOL, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (