Blue Helmets to protect heritage sites

--FILE--Chinese peacekeepers line up during a departure ceremony before flying to South Sudan for UN peacekeeping missions at Jinan Yaoqiang International Airport in Jinan city, east China's Shandong province, 7 April 2015. China will contribute 8,000 troops for a United Nations peacekeeping standby force, China's President Xi Jinping told the United Nations General Assembly on Monday (28 September 2015), a move that could make it one of the largest players in U.N. peacekeeping efforts. Xi's pledge comes as China is trying to show it is a responsible international player amid concern over its growing military might and territorial disputes in the Asia-Pacific region. During a state visit to Washington on Friday, Xi agreed with U.S. President Barack Obama that both countries would increase their
By Hannah Edensor


Italy says UNESCO has approved its suggestion to have the United Nation’s famous Blue Helmets protect heritage sites around the world from attacks by Islamist militants.

“UNESCO has said yes to the Cultural Blue Helmets,” Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said in a statement, adding that 53 countries voted in favour after the destruction of sites including Palmyra in Syria by the Islamic State group.

“Faced with IS terrorist attacks and the terrible images of Palmyra, the international community cannot stand back and watch,” he said, adding that the permanent members of the security council had supported the idea.

United Nations peacekeepers, known by their distinctive blue helmets, would be able to profit from the expertise of Italy’s cultural and heritage police, “who carry out training missions around the world”, he said.

The idea is aimed at “important sites at risk from terrorist attacks, or in war zones, or zones hit by natural disasters, where the international community will be able to send Cultural Blue Helmets to protect them or defend them before they can be destroyed”.

Franceschini called for the UN to “immediately define the operational aspects of this international task force”.

IS seized control of Palmyra in May and has realised international fears by destroying some of the most prized sites in the UNESCO World Heritage listed ancient city.

The militants have carried out a sustained campaign of destruction against heritage sites in areas under their control in Syria and Iraq, including the important Iraqi sites of Hatra, Nimrud and Khorsabad, an ancient Assyrian capital.

Islamist militants are also accused of being behind attacks on ten religious and historic monuments in the Unesco World Heritage city of Timbuktu in Mali.

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