Italy elected to international committee to protect cultural property

Rome, Nov 30 (IANS/AKI) Italian Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Thursday welcomed Italy's appointment to the International Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

"Italy's election as a member of the International Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict - and its appointment to its governing board - is a further significant recognition of the activity that our Country carries out with Unesco for the defence of cultural heritage," Alfano said in a statement.

"This achievement consolidates our foreign policy action in a sector where Italy has conquered an undisputed leadership, a sector which is also of major interest for both the European Union and the United Nations," he added.

The Committee, composed of 12 states that hold office for four years, monitors compliance with the 1954 Convention, the first of Unesco's cultural conventions on the protection of cultural heritage, born from the ashes of the Second World War.

It receives and examines the requests for international assistance to protect cultural heritage and assigns reinforced protection to the cultural property deemed to be of great importance for mankind.

Despite its approval date (1954) the agreement "is still dramatically topical in light of the recent systematic and deliberate attacks against cultural heritage in various parts of the world," Alfano said.

The work that Italy has promoted within UNESCO on the so-called 'Blue Helmets of culture' unfolded within the context of this important Convention", Alfano stated, referring to a specialised unit of the Italian paramilitary Carabinieri police.

--IANS/AKI

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