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Heritage Conflict and the Council: The UNSC, UNESCO, and the View from Iraq and Syria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 November 2024

Lynn Meskell Open the ORCID record for Lynn Meskell [Opens in a new window]  and
Benjamin Isakhan Open the ORCID record for Benjamin Isakhan [Opens in a new window]
Lynn Meskell*
Affiliation:
Penn Integrates Knowledge (PIK) Professor, Department of Anthropology, School of Arts & Sciences, Department of Historic Preservation, Weitzman School of Design, and Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania, and AD White Professor-at-Large, Cornell University
Benjamin Isakhan
Affiliation:
Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia and Department of Politics and International Relations, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
*
Corresponding author: Lynn Meskell; Email: lmeskell@upenn.edu
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Abstract

Cultural heritage preservation and protection are increasingly tethered to an international security agenda constituted across multilateral agencies. UNESCO and other organizations have securitized heritage, engaging in military training and peacekeeping, international law and prosecution, and cultural property protection. Following the events in Iraq and Syria, UN Security Council resolutions have instantiated norms of heritage violence, risk, and threat, while the Global War on Terror also interpolated looting, trafficking, and terror financing into a heritage-protection agenda. We compare these developments with our large-scale public opinion survey of Mosul and Aleppo residents’ experiences of heritage violence and the implications for security and reconstruction. While our results display potential overlaps with UNSC concerns, we suggest that site destruction and broader security concerns are understood differently on the ground, shaped by political and economic factors. We argue for a more humanitarian focus if any relationship between heritage, security, and, indeed, peacebuilding is to be forged.

Keywords

UNESCO World HeritageDestruction and ReconstructionIslamic StateUNSC Resolutions

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Type
Article
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , May 2024 , pp. 134 - 153
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Cultural Property Society

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