UNESCO holds third meeting to safeguard Iraq's cultural heritage1 August – The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today urged donor nations to start immediate work on restoring and preserving the remainders of Iraqi cultural heritage following looting and damage that occurred during and after the recent war.
International museum and archaeological experts and Iraqi cultural officials, brought together by UNESCO in Tokyo in the third such meeting since April, focused on both short- and long-term action to preserve the Baghdad Museum.
Key points included equipping and opening laboratories in the museum, starting restoration of artefacts seriously damaged, and launching training programmes for museum employees.
Other issues included broader measures to protect Iraqi cultural heritage and the assessments provided by the two UNESCO experts' missions to Iraq.
The second mission found that although the looting of Iraq's museums and cultural sites was less extensive than first thought, the objects that were taken were of high value while less valuable pieces as well as copies were left behind. It called for United States-led coalition forces to protect cultural sites in Baghdad as well as archaeological digs in the south and north of Iraq, which continued to be vulnerable to looters.v
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