Expanding the peacekeeping agenda. The protection of cultural heritage in war-torn societies

Foradori, Paolo; Rosa, Paolo

doi:10.1080/14781158.2017.1304904

Cited by 24 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In the United States, heritage professionals work with the Department of Defence to support troops in protecting heritage during military operations; in the United Kingdom, a specialist Cultural Property Protection Unit has been created within the Armed Forces; and similar heritage protection programmes now exist in the militaries of many significant world powers (Foradori et al, 2018; Rush, 2010). On the global stage, some have called for the ‘Responsibility to Protect’ doctrine to be expanded from the protection of human life to significant heritage sites and cultural assets (Lenzerini, 2016; Weiss and Connelly, 2019) and for some form of ‘Cultural Peacekeeping’ force to be integrated into international operations (Foradori and Rosa, 2017). In 2016, UNESCO partnered with the Italian Government to create a specialized unit designed to protect cultural property in conflict, later nick-named the ‘Blue Helmets for Culture’ (UNESCO, 2016).…”

Section: Heritage Politics and Peacementioning

confidence: 99%

Problematizing norms of heritage and peace: Militia mobilization and violence in Iraq

Isakhan¹,

Akbar²

2022

Cooperation and Conflict

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The destruction of heritage in conflict has emerged as a key challenge to global security and the prospects of peace. In response to the deliberate targeting of heritage sites by the Islamic State (IS) and other actors in recent years, the international community has launched a number of initiatives designed to protect and reconstruct key heritage sites in complex (post-)conflict contexts. However, this article demonstrates that such initiatives are often underpinned by the norm that the protection of heritage in conflict can serve to enhance the prospects of reconciliation, stability and peace. This article problematizes this norm by focussing on the case study of Shia responses to the targeting of their religious heritage sites by the IS in Iraq from mid-2014. It documents the ways that key Shia leaders instrumentalized the case of protecting heritage not to advance peace and security, but to create entirely new militias, to recruit thousands of Shia faithful, to mobilize them to fight against the IS, and to engage in violence and human rights abuses. This raises significant concerns about whether the promotion of heritage as a pathway to peace could inadvertently exacerbate conflict and lead to renewed waves of violence and heritage destruction.

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