Destruction of cultural sites perpetrated by ISIS/Da’esh (debate)

Honorable Mrs. President,
Dear Colleagues,

I can absolutely agree with Mrs. Costa’s statement, the chair of our committee, that “Barbarity has no language and religion.”

Unfortunately, together with the barbarian murders we are witnessing unprecedenting destruction of archeological objects, statutues and cultural monument in the recent months. Terroristic groups destruct cultural heritage of more than 3 000 years with the strong intention to obliterate traces of the history of the region. Those acts provoked the Director-General Mrs. Bokova to define them as “cultural cleansing” and military crime which the world should punish and the European Union should support the organization in the fight of protection our heritage.

We should immediately oppose that violence against our collective memory, because this is not only a cultural tragedy but threat for our security.
I call on the Council to establish new additional section of Eurojust and Europol fighting underground trafficking of cultural valuables and for better coordination with the local authorities. It is necessary as well EU to support fully UNESCO’s campaign #Unite4Heritage for global support in the protection of cultural heritage.
Thank you for your attention!

Тази публикация е достъпна и на следните езици: Bulgarian