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Reply to Recommendation | Doc. 13946 | 18 January 2016
Cultural heritage in crisis and post-crisis situations
1. The Committee of
Ministers has carefully examined Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 2071 (2015)
on “Cultural heritage in crisis and post-crisis situations”. It
has brought it to the attention of the governments of member States
and forwarded it to the Steering Committee for Culture, Heritage
and Landscape (CDCPP), for information and possible comments.
2. The Committee of Ministers notes that the Council of Europe
has already conducted several projects and activities under the
Technical Co-operation and Consultancy Programme related to the
integrated conservation of cultural and natural heritage, which
have demonstrated the role of heritage in post-conflict reconciliation
processes and in post-natural-disaster situations. The Council of Europe’s approach places
an emphasis on the preservation of cultural heritage in order to
facilitate the reconciliation of communities, enriched by their
diversity, strengthen social cohesion and pave the way for sustainable
development.
3. Recent international events have reminded us of the dramatic
impact at a cultural, social, environmental and economic level of
the deliberate destruction of the cultural heritage. In this connection,
the Ministers responsible for cultural heritage, meeting in Namur
on 23 and 24 April 2015 for their 6th Council of Europe Conference,
adopted the Namur Call which reiterates their condemnation of such
destruction and the illicit trade in cultural property and works
of art, and sets out their intention to address this issue by means
of discussions initiated in the Council of Europe.
4. At this conference, the Ministers also adopted the Namur Declaration
which calls for a European cultural heritage strategy for the 21st
century to be drawn up. The Committee of Ministers has entrusted
the CDCPP with the task of drafting this strategy. The CDCPP will
bear in mind, in the course of its work, the Assembly’s proposal
that the CDCPP “draft guidelines for the protection and reconstruction
of damaged or destroyed cultural heritage as part of a broader strategy
for preserving cultural identity and diversity in crisis and post-crisis
situations” (paragraph 3.1 of the Assembly recommendation).
5. The Assembly further recommends that the CDCPP provide “support
for member States to exchange good practices based on the guidelines
as well as on standards and principles of the Council of Europe Framework
Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (CETS No.
199), and provide assistance to member States in implementing these
provisions.” In this connection, the Committee of Ministers informs
the Assembly that work along the lines which it advocates is under
way in the framework of the CDCPP and will be continued, in particular
under the HEREIN system and as part of the implementation of the
Action Plan on the Faro Convention. In this respect, the CDCPP co-operates
also with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees (UNCHR), the European Union, the International Council
on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and other relevant and national
aid agencies. The Committee of Ministers invites the CDCPP to contribute
to the European Committee on Crime Problems’ (CDPC) work of updating
the European Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property
(Convention of Delphi; ETS No. 119) and offer its expertise in this
context.