The meeting between the
Ministers of Culture of the G7 adopted a declaration which conceives culture as
a tool for dialogue between peoples and raised the issue of protection of
cultural heritage threatened by wars, illicit trafficking and natural
disasters.
Italy, which took over the
presidency of the G7 from 1 January 2017, hosted the first G7 for Ministers of
Culture on the theme "Culture as a tool for dialogue between peoples".
The meeting, which took place in Florence on 30 and 31 March, was also attended
by European Commissioner for Culture and the UNESCO Secretary General. The
summit was an opportunity to share ideas and proposals on the issue of armed
conflict and the preservation of national identity, presenting culture as a
tool for dialogue between peoples. The aim was precisely to adopt a joint
document which considers culture as a tool for dialogue, the so-called
Declaration of Florence. Indeed, as stated by Dario Franceschini, Italian Minister
of Culture, it is a honor that this happened on Italian impulse». The
representatives of the G7 countries reaffirmed their commitment to restoring
and preserving the world heritage damaged by natural disasters or during
conflicts or attacked by terrorism, calling to combat illicit trafficking of
cultural heritage.
In the Florence Declaration,
seven Ministers expressed «deep concern at the ever-increasing risk, arising
not only from terrorist attacks, armed conflicts and natural disasters but also
from raids, looting and other crimes committed on a global scale, to cultural
heritage and all related institutions and properties, such as museums,
monuments, archaeological sites, archives and libraries». In fact, in recent
years, the international community has witnessed the destruction of many
cultural sites, considered as tragic event «as such actions obliterate
irreplaceable patrimony, extinguish the identity of targeted communities and
erase any evidence of past diversity or religious pluralism». Therefore, it is
necessary «to promote effective implementation of existing international legal
instruments for protection of the world’s cultural heritage» calling upon the «United
Nations, in particular UNESCO and other relevant International Organizations»,
but above all the member States «to take strong and effective measures to
combat the looting and trafficking in cultural property from their places of
origin, particularly from countries experiencing conflict and internal strife,
and to identify and prohibit the trade in looted cultural property that has
been trafficked across borders and, as appropriate, to reinforce the monitoring
of free ports and free trade zones». On the other hand, the Ministers of
Culture recognized the importance of a closer cooperation between judicial and
police authorities to deal with illicit phenomena. In addition, the Florence Declaration
recalls the Security Council UN Resolution no. 2347 (2017) on the destruction
of cultural heritage in armed conflicts, proposing that security missions and
peacekeeping established by the Security Council would encompass «a cultural
heritage protection component». Finally, the Ministers of Culture «encourage
the forthcoming Chairs of the G7 to organize future meetings of Ministers of
Culture and cultural authorities», in order to monitor the progress of heritage
protection worldwide.
G7 Culture marks the end of
a long journey that has seen Italy at the forefront within the international
community to promote the protection of cultural heritage, threatened and
destroyed by men, as in the case of the Islamic State, or by more and more frequent
natural disasters. Actually, cultural heritage does not simply represent the
heritage of the country and the people who own them, but the entire heritage of
humankind, while the illicit trafficking of archaeological heritage is a source
of funding for terrorism. Therefore, on 1 August 2015, on the occasion of Expo
Milano 2015, 83 countries signed the Charter of Milan that condemned the
violence against cultural heritage. Afterward, on 13 November 2015, UNESCO
adopted a resolution committing each member State to set up a national task
force Unite4Heritage to be deployed in defense of world cultural heritage in
danger and urged the United Nations to discuss the opportunity to encompass a
cultural component in its peacekeeping missions. Italy is the first member State
of the United Nations which, on 16 February 2016, set up its own task force
Unite4Heritage (consisting of historians, scholars, restorers and the
Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection Command), ready to intervene under the
auspices of UNESCO in crisis areas for the protection of world cultural
heritage, with an agreement signed during a meeting in Rome between the then
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Paolo Gentiloni, and
the Director General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, attended by the Minister of Culture,
Dario Franceschini, the Minister of Defense, Roberta Pinotti, the then Minister
of Education, University and Research, Stefania Giannini, and the Commander
General of the Carabinieri, Tullio Del Sette. Finally, on the Italian-French
initiative of Italy and France, on 24 March 2017, the Security Council approved
resolution 2347 (2017).