Following an “extraordinary session” of the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict on November 18th, UNESCO decided to grant provisional enhanced protection to 34 Lebanese cultural properties. Included on this list are Baalbek and Tyre, two World Heritage sites that are in close proximity to recent military strikes. All 34 of these properties are now protected at the highest level. According to UNESCO, “[n]on-compliance with these clauses would constitute ‘serious violations’ of the 1954 Hague Convention and would constitute potential grounds for prosecution.”
International financial assistance will also be provided to aid in this protection, and UNESCO is calling on Member States to provide financial contributions for this program.
More information can be found in UNESCO’s press release.
Image of the colonnaded street at Al Mina, Tyre, Lebanon, by Vyacheslav Argenberg, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license).
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