Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 12:22:48 -0400
From: Gustavo Araoz <[log in to unmask]>
To Members and friends of US/ICOMOS,
A number of you have written to express concern over the looting of
cultural institutions in Iraq, and find out what US/ICOMOS is doing.
This entire work week has been re-shaped here at the Secretariat by those
catastrophic events. I would urge those of you who have the inclination
and the concern, to write to the President ([log in to unmask])
and to the Secretary of State ([log in to unmask]), as well as to you
Congressmen expressing those preoccupations and the initiatives that
you would like for our government to take. You may use the texts below
to formulate your ideas. If you have no objections, I would also ask
that you copy US/ICOMOS with whatever correspondence you send, both
for our records, and to keep tally of our members' interest in this
reconstruction effort.
US/ICOMOS has also been pursuing three other lines of activities:
1. US/ICOMOS drafted and circulated among the leading national heritage
organizations a letter to the President and the Secretaries of State and
Defense, calling for specific actions to protect the cultural heritage
of Iraq. An impressive number of organizations immediately signed on,
and substantial volunteer help to US/ICOMOS in coordinating this effort
was provided by US/ICOMOS Borad member Doug Comer and Ellen Herscher,
representative of the Archaeological Institute of America to the
US/ICOMOS Board. The letter and the organizations that signed are
reproduced immediately following this message.
2. US/ICOMOS participated on Wednesday in a meeting at AAM headquarters
of the Heritage Emergency National Task Force, convened by Heritage
Preservation. The Task Force is a loose coalition of national government
agencies and non-governmental organizations that meets periodically
for advancing mechanisms for emergency response and preparedness. Its
focus includes all material culture: heritage sites, museums, libraries
and archives. While the agenda of the Task Force has always been more
domestic than international, the situation in Iraq and the responsibility
of the US to respond to it led to the convening of this meeting.
The resolutions that were taken at that meeting include immediate
fact-finding of needs and priorities in Iraq through consultation with
Iraqi heritage professionals, followed up by a fact-finding trip sooner
rather than later. US/ICOMOS emphasized the need for the US cultural
community to coordinate and integrate all US efforts with those of
our larger international community.
3. Given the large number of initiatives being explored at the
international level, US/ICOMOS has been exchanging information with
our colleagues overseas and in UNESCO. US/ICOMOS sent briefings of
our national activities to Monunir Bouchenaki, UNESCO Deputy Director
for Culture, and to Michael Petzet, ICOMOS President, in preparation
for the emergency meeting today at UNESCO in Paris. We have also been
in close touch with our Secretary-General, Dinu Bumbaru in Montreal,
and with ICOMOS UK, which is actively pursuing similar lines of work
in the UK. Tom Hassall, ICOMOS UK President has written to Tony Blair.
A copy of the text of that letter is also reproduced at the end of
this message.
I am sure that within the next two weeks, the plans for assistance and
reconstruction will begin to gel, and that at that time there may be need
for expert volunteers. We will keep you posted.
Gustavo Araoz, AIA
Executive Director, US/ICOMOS
and ICOMOS Vice President
------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 16th, 2003
Mr George W Bush
President of the United States
The White House
Washington, DC
Dear Mr President:
During the military preparations and subsequent implementation of military
actions for the war in Iraq, the cultural community in the United States
and elsewhere repeatedly pointed out our war responsibilities to the
cultural heritage of Iraq. As the cradle of human civilization, the
Iraqi territory holds unique artistic, historic, archaeological and
scientific evidence of the birth of the very civilization of which
our Nation forms part. During the fierce fighting of the past few weeks,
we were relieved to see that our military leaders and the coalition
partners took extreme precautions to avoid targeting cultural sites
along with other non-military places. It was also comforting to receive
reports that our armed forces have conducted inspections at some of
the important archaeological sites.
This past weekend, however, the situation changed drastically. Alarming
news and dismaying television images confirmed the wholesale pillaging and
wanton destruction of the cultural treasures of Iraq by local thugs and
thieves. The extensive looting and vandalism of the completely unguarded
National Museum in Baghdad have caused irreversible losses in a cultural
patrimony that belongs not only to the Iraqis, but to all mankind. Other
reports have indicated similar pillaging in Mosul. If this process is
allowed to go unchecked, the catastrophic destruction may easily spread
to hundreds of more remote, but equally valuable sites.
As leaders of national organizations representing millions of Americans
who believe that the material culture inherited from our ancestors
constitutes one of humanity's greatest treasures, we call on you
to use all means at your disposal to stop the pillaging and protect
cultural sites and institutions of Iraq. These include historic sites,
historic urban districts, cultural landscapes, buildings of unusual
aesthetic values, archaeological sites, museums, libraries, archives
and other repositories of cultural property and human memory.
We also call for the protection of our colleagues, the Iraqi professionals
and scholars who work in these places, thus enabling them to carry out
their stewardship duties. During this period of extreme hardship,
they need professional support and reinforcement to assist them with
their tasks. The United States and our Coalition Partners should provide
this assistance at once.
We call for the immediate adoption of strict and detailed plans to
attempt to recover the stolen artifacts and reconstruct the Iraqi
national collections. This should be done through police action,
international cooperation, import and export interdictions and other
means that may prove effective in this endeavor. Such plans should
include international cooperation and exchange of information, as well
as strict monitoring of illicit trade within Iraq and its border nations
by our armed forces.
Finally, we call upon our Government to ensure that the funds destined
for post-war recovery and reconstruction provide sufficient funds for
the field of cultural resources. This would include funds for the
immediate physical and institutional reconstruction of Iraqi cultural
agencies and organizations, as well as long-term funds for strengthening
institutional and professional capacity in order to ensure a permanent
protection and effective management of heritage resources and historic
sites of Iraq.
We place at your disposal the joint and individual expertise of our
organizations to assist our country in providing this protection
and recovering the stolen artifacts for the people of Iraq.
The return to freedom of the Iraqi people must include the freedom
to enjoy the great heritage resources inherited from their ancestors.
As the only source of real authority in Iraq at the present time, the
United States and its Coalition Partners bear an obligation to all
Americans, to all Iraqis, to the world community and to generations
yet unborn to protect the cultural resources of Iraq.
In contrast to the inhuman Iraqi regime that has just ended, the United
States is a benevolent nation committed to the realization of the full
human potential through freedom, democracy, fair play and the rule of law.
In our own country, we revere and protect the thousands of places whence
our rich historic legacy sprang and grew. They lie at the root of our
national identity and are a constant source of inspiration. We hope that
the right will be provided to the people of Iraq, and by extension,
to all the citizens of our country and the world who can claim the
ancestral treasures of Iraq as partly our own.
Respectfully,
American Anthropological Association
William E Davis, III, Executive Director
Atlanta, Georgia
American Cultural Resources Association
Loretta Lautzehnheiser, President
American Institute of Architects Historic Resources Committee
Elizabeth Corbin Murphy, AIA, Chair
Washington, DC
American Institute for the Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works
Jerry Podany, AIC/FAIC, President
Elizabeth "Penny" Jones, AIC/FAIC, Executive Director
Washington, DC
American Research Institute in Turkey
Ken Sams, President
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
American Schools of Oriental Research
Lawrence T Geraty, PhD
Archaeological Institute of America
Jane Waldbaum, President
Boston, Massachusetts
Art Libraries Society of North America
Allen K Townsend, President
Fort Worth, Texas
College Art Association
Susan Ball, Executive Director
New York, New York
Council of American Overseas Research Centers
Mary Ellen Lane, Executive Director
Washington, DC
George Wright Society (a professional association of park-protected area
researchers and managers)
David Harmon, Executive Director
Hancock, Michigan
The Getty Conservation Institute
Timothy P Whalen, Director
Los Angeles, California
The Middle East Studies Association of North America
Amy W. Newhall, Executive Director
National Coalition for History
Bruce Craig, PhD, Executive Director
Washington, DC
National Humanities Alliance
John Hammer, Director
Washington, DC
National Geographic Society
Terry D Garcia, Executive Vice President
Washington, DC
National Trust for Historic Preservation
Richard Moe, President
Washington, DC
Preservation Action
Bradford White, Chairman
Susan West Montgomery, President
Washington, DC
Society of Architectural Historians
Diane Favro, President
Chicago, Illinois
Society for American Archaeology
Lynne Sebastian, President
Washington, DC
Society for Historical Archaeology
Julia King, President
Mt Royal, New Jersey
US/ICOMOS - United States Committee,
International Council on Monuments and Sites
Robert Wilburn, Chairman
Gustavo F Araoz, AIA, Executive Director
Washington, DC
cc. The Honorable Secretary of Defense
The Honorable Secretary of State
(For information, call US/ICOMOS, 202-842-1866)
__________________
The Right Honourable Tony Blair MP
Prime Minister
10 Downing Street
London
cc Foreign Secretary
Secretary of State for Defence
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
17 April 2003
Dear Prime Minister
CULTURAL HERITAGE IN IRAQ
All those involved in cultural heritage have been reading with increasing
dismay and disbelief details of the looting and destruction of antiquities
in Iraq.
Iraq's cultural heritage it is arguably its greatest economic asset -
even more valuable than oil. Unlike Iraq's infrastructure, which can
be replaced, its cultural heritage is quite simply irreplaceable. Once
the fighting is over it should be one of the key ways of increasing
income from tourism; it will also be needed as a means of re-engendering
pride and self-confidence.
Damage to the Baghdad museum has already destroyed something of huge value
to mankind as a whole. Its contents told the story of significant stages
in the evolution of the great early centralised societies of Sumeria,
Babylon, Assyria and Persia. Looting has also been reported from other
museums and university libraries; as yet we don't know how far other
cultural sites may have been ravaged. Measures must now be put in place to
stop further damage to some of the richest cultural heritage in the world.
In Prime Minister's question time on 19th March, you confirmed that
the government was committed to protecting Iraq's cultural heritage.
Furthermore the Ministry of Defence in a letter to me of 21 March
confirmed that 'notwithstanding the fact that the [Hague] convention
is yet to be ratified the UK remains fully committed to the protection
of cultural property in times of armed conflict in accordance with
international law'. The Hague Convention specifically covers the need
to take appropriate measures to prevent looting of, and damage to,
significant cultural heritage in post-conflict situations.
We now call urgently on the government to put these principles into
practice and take immediate steps to:
a.. Offer protection to key cultural heritage sites that could be
under threat of looting
b.. Give protection to what remains of museums, university libraries
and other significant collections in Iraq
c.. Encourage the recovery of looted objects and put in place measures
to deter their sale in the art market outside Iraq
d.. Identify professionals who can help with the process of
documentation and protection in Iraq and in the UK
Furthermore we would like assurances that aid given for reconstruction
in Iraq is directly linked to the needs of cultural heritage and provides
for capacity building to ensure that appropriate skills are in place to
optimise cultural heritage assets. Cultural heritage does not just need
protecting - although that must come first - it needs managing to ensure
that it can deliver substantial social, economic and cultural benefits
as a key part of sustainable development.
ICOMOS is an international, non-governmental organisation whose mandate is
the world's cultural heritage. Through its national committees worldwide,
it provides a forum for professional dialogue.
In collaboration with other ICOMOS National Committees, ICOMOS-UK would be
very willing to put the resources of the ICOMOS network at the disposal
of the government in order to help facilitate this urgent and crucial
process.
Yours sincerely
Tom Hassall
President, ICOMOS-UK
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