Cultural Property Protection course
Date: (29-09-2022)
The online pilot course Cultural Property Protection and Crisis Management was held from 27 until 29 September 2022 in collaboration with The Medici Archive Project (Florence, Italy).
The aim of this educational event was to explore the main concepts and theoretical issues associated with CPP and the role of the military in response to the increasing awareness within NATO and other international organizations of the importance of cultural heritage as one of the foundations of world civilization and the need to design new modes of CPP.
The course examined case studies of CPP (ancient Greece and Mesopotamia, Roman Empire etc.) from world history through the prism of modern leadership theories, as well as recent case studies in the context of post-conflict societies, especially Iraq, Ukraine, and Afghanistan. The course was attended by representatives of various civil and military organizations from 13 countries, including
Bulgaria, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Greece, Germany, India, Iraq, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America. The course participants benefited from the expertise of distinguished guest instructors from The Medici Archive Project, the Hellenic Multinational Peace Support Operations Training Center of the of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff (Greece), the U.S. Naval War College (USA), the Centro Superior de Estudios de la Defensa Nacional (Spain), the Consulate General of Greece in Erbil, the Ministry of Peshmerga (Iraq), the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani, the University of Basel (Switzerland), Jawaharlal Nehru University (India), and the Hellenic Organization for Cultural Resources Development (Greece). The trainees became acquainted with the cultural, historical, political, social, and religious factors that have shaped various approaches to CPP as well as the impact of military activities and operations. They garnered in-depth knowledge about the nexus of CPP and crisis management at the strategic and operational levels within the framework of a Comprehensive Approach to the preservation of cultural heritage, peace, and security.
Additionally, the course attempted a reappraisal of the metrics used to assess the importance of tangible and intangible forms of cultural heritage, particularly in relation to CSDP missions, and policies designed to prevent looting and trafficking. The course objectives were implemented through introductory and specialized lectures, collective syndicate work, real life examples, hypothetical scenarios, risk assessment exercises, and panel discussions.
PHOTOS
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