German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Monday has called on the international community to enact measures to protect the world's cultural heritage amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th November, 2020) German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Monday has called on the international community to enact measures to protect the world's cultural heritage amid the ongoing coronavirus disease pandemic.
"We have launched unprecedented emergency programmes to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. To protect our health, our economy and our social cohesion. Cultural heritage needs the same protection in the crisis. It needs us - our full commitment, our coordination skills and our powers of persuasion," Maas said at the international Cultural Heritage and Multilateralism Forum.
According to the German foreign minister, countries should work to protect churches, cathedrals, libraries, and other prominent institutions. Maas also cited the Islamic State's (terrorist organization, banned in Russia) destruction of Palmyra in Syria, adding that such acts are a crime against humanity.
"But this heritage is in danger. Because of wars and plundering, robbery and illegal trade. Such crimes against cultural heritage are crimes against humanity. Because what has been destroyed cannot be recovered. Wherever culture is destroyed, humanity dies - and a part of each and every one of us dies, too," Maas remarked.
Climate change also poses a significant threat to the future of many prominent cultural institutions, the German foreign minister added.
Maas spoke to open the three-day international conference, which has been organized by UNESCO, the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, the European Commission, and the Council of Europe.
