Context:
The 46th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) announced the UNESCO tag for Saint Hilarion Monastery amid conflict in Gaza.
More on the news:
- India is hosting the 46th session of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) in Delhi, a key UNESCO event for the first time.
- Monastery was simultaneously put on the List of World Heritage in Danger after an “emergency nomination”.
- In December 2023, at its 18th session, UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property had already decided to grant “provisional enhanced protection” to the monastery under the 1954 Hague Convention.
About Saint Hilarion Monastery:
- It is also famously known as Tell Umm Amer in Palestine.
- It is one of the oldest sites in the Middle East and was founded by Saint Hilarion.
- It was home to the first monastic community in the Holy Land.
- It was a center for religious, cultural, and economic exchanges, illustrating the prosperity of desert monastic sites in the Byzantine period.
UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
- It’s a specialized agency of the United Nations, born on 16 November 1945.
- UNESCO has 195 Members and 8 Associate Members and is governed by the General Conference and the Executive Board.
- Its headquarters are located in Paris.
- UNESCO’s mission is to contribute to the building of a culture of peace, the eradication of poverty, sustainable development, and intercultural dialogue through education, the sciences, culture, communication, and information.
1954 Hague Convention.
- The Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was adopted in 1954 under the auspices of UNESCO, Now widely referred to as the 1954 Hague Convention.
- The 1954 Hague Convention, is the first and the most comprehensive multilateral treaty dedicated exclusively to the protection of cultural heritage in times of peace as well as during an armed conflict.
- It aims to protect cultural property, such as monuments of architecture, art or history, archaeological sites, works of art, manuscripts, books, etc.
- The monastery was strategically positioned at the crossroads of major trade and communication routes between Asia and Africa.
- Threats to this heritage site are posed by the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip as Israel has been carrying out a massive military offensive in Gaza.
Significance of the UNESCO tag:
- It raised hopes about the protection of such heritage sites.
- Israel is a signatory to the UNESCO Convention on World Heritage and as per its terms, the 195 State Parties are “committed to avoid taking any deliberate measures likely to cause direct or indirect damage to this site, and to assist in its protection”.