International Group Asks Leaders
to Protect Libraries in an Iraq War
An international cultural organization has called upon the leaders of the United States, United Kingdom, and Iraq to do all they can to protect libraries, archives, museums, monuments, and historic sites in the event of war in Iraq.
President of the International Committee of the Blue Shield Ross Shimmon wrote letters to George W. Bush, Tony Blair, and Saddam Hussein March 7 urging them to “take all necessary action” to ensure that all military forces “protect Iraq’s wonderful cultural heritage.” The ICBS, co-founded by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions in The Hague, Netherlands, is the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross and seeks to protect historic sites in the event of natural or man-made disaster.
In a statement adopted the same day, the ICBS stressed that “international humanitarian law prohibits the use of cultural property for military purposes or to shield military objectives.” It also called for the preparation of “detailed plans by trained experts” for the repatriation or restoration of any looted property, “with the involvement of Iraqi scholars and heritage professionals.”
Besides IFLA, which Shimmon heads as secretary general, the ICBS represents the concerns of the nongovernmental International Council on Archives, the International Council on Museums, and the International Council on Monuments and Sites.
Posted March 17, 2003.
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