Strategic Objective 7: Protecting, promoting and transmitting heritage

Main Line of Action 1: Protecting, conserving, promoting and transmitting culture, heritage and history for dialogue and development

04010     In times of rapid societal and environmental change, heritage provides opportunities, through its role in human development, as a repository of knowledge, as a driver of economic growth, and as a symbolic force for stability and meaning, to address the challenges of an increasingly complex world.

04011     UNESCO will therefore continue to promote heritage as a vector of dialogue, cooperation and mutual understanding, especially in crisis situations, as a specific component of broader initiatives to promote innovative and creative approaches to culture as a bridge to sustainable development. The participation of communities, practitioners, cultural actors, NGOs, non-profit organizations, experts, and centres of expertise in the implementation of the Conventions will be promoted, with a special focus on youth and women within the special attention given to Africa, SIDS and LDCs.

04012     Capacity building programmes to support the effective implementation of the 1954, 1970, 1972 and 2001 Conventions and respective Protocols at the national level will be further developed. These will concentrate on the development of practical tools and training materials dedicated to those instruments as well as strengthening the capacities of cultural and natural heritage practitioners. Sustained support will be provided to Member States for building appropriate legal and institutional frameworks in which cultural and other relevant sector policies fully integrate cultural heritage and are in turn better integrated into national development policies. UNESCO’s field network and strategic partners will be mobilized to ensure the effectiveness of this global strategy.

04013     The growing incidence of conflicts and natural disasters facing cultural and natural heritage demonstrates the urgent need to advocate and support the development and implementation of disaster risk prevention and management strategies, including capacity building, which also take into account the contributions of indigenous knowledge. Efforts will be made to target assistance specifically to post-conflict and post-natural disaster countries, also taking cultural factors into account in reconciliation and reconstruction processes under initiatives launched by the United Nations as appropriate. Particular emphasis will be placed on protecting heritage for conservation and sustainable development, mitigating risks and managing it in times of conflicts and disasters.

04014     Partnerships will be developed with key stakeholders of the Conventions and their Protocols, including but not limited to the United Nations Department of Peace-Keeping Operations, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, as well as the International Committee of the Red Cross, INTERPOL, the World Customs Organizations, UNIDROIT, ICOM, ICOMOS, IUCN, ICCROM, ICA, IFLA, the International Committee of the Blue 161 37 C/5 Approved – Major Programme IV Shield, actors of the international art market, the military and law-enforcement agencies, and cultural heritage professionals.

04015     In strengthening the international mechanisms of the 1954, 1970, 1972, and 2001 Conventions, and their roles as platforms for international cooperation, particular attention will be paid to facilitating and supporting the decision-making processes of the respective governing bodies, to increasing ratifications and to the effective management of their respective funds and fundraising strategies, as well as to promoting the List of Cultural Property under Enhanced Protection with a view to obtaining new inscriptions therein.

04016     Particular consideration will be given to implementing the World Heritage Strategic Action Plan 2012- 2022, while the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property will place special attention on the newly created mechanisms for its monitoring. UNESCO Member States will also be encouraged to ratify the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects.

04017     Global awareness of the importance of cultural heritage and its protection for sustainable development, social cohesion, dialogue and peace will be enhanced through the development of an integrated and comprehensive information and knowledge-management system and through strategic cooperation with external partners, to enhance their involvement in and contribution to long term heritage conservation. Action to harness the full potential of category 2 centres and other specialized networks and promote regional and thematic cooperation and joint initiatives will contribute to realizing decentralized regional and sub-regional platforms for delivering activities more effectively and efficiently.

04018     Youth education and volunteer activities will remain priorities, as they provide children and youth with basic knowledge on heritage conservation and values, develop mutual understanding and networks among students and teachers of participating countries and raise awareness amongst local communities about their heritage. New partnerships will be developed in this regard. In a new departure, efforts to develop complementary tools for all the heritage related conventions will be pursued through a unified Heritage in Young Hands programme.

04019     International cooperation will be further promoted through the creation of a high-level forum on museums. This will act as laboratory of ideas and generate innovative approaches and policy advice for the strengthening of museums’ roles as vectors for intercultural dialogue and sustainable development, especially in Africa and LDCs. The educational and social roles of museums for social cohesion and conflict prevention will be emphasized through the development of a new international standard setting instrument in the form of a Recommendation, and the links between museums and the existing cultural Conventions will be further developed as part of broader approaches to culture as a bridge to development. The role played by museums to combat the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property will also be enhanced. Existing partnerships with national, regional and international organizations and professional institutions will be strengthened, and new institutional partnerships that aim to foster North-South, North-South-South and South-South cooperation between museums will be supported.

04020     Action in favour of mutual understanding, intercultural dialogue and a culture of peace will be strengthened by offering a historical perspective on cultural interactions and mutual influences between peoples with an emphasis on shared values. While helping build the intercultural skills necessary for the good management of cultural pluralism, focus will be placed on cross readings and educational use of UNESCO’s General and Regional Histories. 37 C/5 Approved – Major Programme IV 162

04021     In line with the objectives of the International Decade of People of African Descent, UNESCO will continue its efforts to fight against prejudice and discrimination handed down from history and promote reconciliation and living together through better knowledge of the history of Africa, the slave trade, slavery and its consequences in modern societies and the contribution of Africans and the African Diaspora to human progress, as well as cross-readings of the General and Regional Histories. Emphasis will be placed on reaching youth as agents of change through the development of new partnerships and innovative approaches offered by ICTs and broadcasting.