Monument Watchalerts.
"On October 28-29, 2024, during the conference entitled "Protection and restoration of cultural heritage using new and developing technologies" initiated by the Armenian National Commission of the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNESCO, the director of UNESCO, the organization of culture and emergency situations, and the Hague Convention of 1954 and its The secretary of the committee of the two protocols (1954 and 1999) Christa Picat stated that UNESCO is concerned about reports about the alleged destruction of cultural values of different origins and types of Nagorno Karabakh. He noted that Nagorno-Karabakh has been in the center of UNESCO's attention for many years, and in that context, during the last conflict, the Director-General of UNESCO expressed his desire to send a technical mission to the region to assess the situation, for which discussions were held with stakeholders. at the highest level. Picat also noted that now that the situation has changed, this mission can no longer be sent in accordance with the 1954 Hague Convention "On the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict" https://factor.am/825458.html .
Krista Picat added that last year UNESCO sent a mission to Armenia under the leadership of the Assistant Director General for Culture to offer the support of the structure to the displaced and to make sure that their needs are met both educationally and socio-psychologically, including community support. the offer of help to preserve the material cultural heritage, to keep it as a living heritage. In this context, Christa Picat emphasized that communities define their customs and traditions that need to be preserved and that UNESCO is ready to provide assistance to communities if necessary. Krista Picat noted that now, in 1954. The Hague Convention has an ad hoc monitoring mechanism that can be triggered by any member state.
Our response
Let's remind that during the years 2020-2024, UNESCO did not implement the mandate for the protection of world cultural heritage delegated to it by the United Nations and did not send a mission to the region to document the real state of the region's heritage and prevent its further destruction by Azerbaijan. Referring to UNESCO's actions, note that they were limited to appeals and expressions of concern. In particular, in 2020 On October 10, UNESCO expressed a strong neutrality regarding the continuous escalation of violence in the Nagorno Karabakh conflict zone, the targeting of schools, cultural and religious places (https://en.unesco.org/news/situation-nagorno-karabakh-conflict-zone- unesco-statement). This structure called on both sides to protect heritage in all its forms (monuments, historical landscape, intangible heritage). Of course, the text of the declaration could not be left out of the many times clearly violated by Azerbaijan (which did not receive an appropriate response), the 1954 Hague Convention. urges to observe the provisions of the convention and its first and second protocols (1954 and 1999). Almost 10 days after the tripartite agreement of November 9, UNESCO reaffirmed its commitment to protect the cultural values of Nagorno-Karabakh with the "Heritage is endangered" poster: proposing to send a mission to the region for the purpose of recording cultural heritage (https://en.unesco.org/news/nagorno-karabakh-reaffirming-obligation-protect-cultural-goods-unesco-proposes-sending-mission), which according to the UNESCO charter it is possible only with the agreement of both sides, Armenia and Azerbaijan (the Republic of Artsakh cannot be recognized as a party because it is not internationally recognized by the United Nations) and through consultation with the co-chairing states of the Minsk Group. The Minsk Group meeting may have taken place, but it did not lead to tangible results. in 2022 On February 4, during the remote meeting of RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, President of the Republic of Armenia Ilham Aliyev, and President of the Council of Europe Charles Michel, with the mediation of French President Emmanuel Macron, the co-chair of the Minsk Group, it was decided to send a mission by UNESCO to the two countries to monitor the state of cultural heritage and study how The state of Armenian heritage in Azerbaijan and Nagorno-Karabakh, as well as in Armenia (https://www.primeminister.am/en/press-release/item/2022/02/04/Nikol-Pashinyan-video-conference/). But a month after UNESCO's announcement, Ernesto Ottone, the cultural assistant to the general director of the organization, announced that they are still waiting for Azerbaijan's response. "Until now, we have appealed to the authorities of Azerbaijan several times and have failed..." (Nazaretyan, Artsakh's Cultural Heritage Under Threat) said in the statement. And here is 2020. On December 21, UNESCO issued a press release expressing regret that the process of sending an independent technical mission to Nagorno-Karabakh was prevented by Azerbaijan (Ambartsumian, Why Armenian Cultural Heritage Threatens Azerbaijan's Claims to Nagorno-Karabakh). It should be noted that even 4 years after the war, the sending of the mission has not become a reality, and the heritage created by the people of Artsakh, which is considered universal according to the principles of UNESCO, is continuously being destroyed."
