From looted artifacts and demolished sites in Egypt to shattered priceless monuments in Iraq, the sirens need to go off! The status of the national heritage artifacts in the Middle East and North Africa countries is becoming alarming.
To that end, Egypt, for what seems to be the first year, is hosting the International Conference for the Protection of Human Heritage, under the slogan “Threatened Cultural Heritage." A number of regional countries including Sudan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Iraq and Kuwait will attend the conference, which is being held 13-14 May.
The conference, which is the result of collaborative efforts between Egypt's Foreign and Antiquities ministries, the International Alliance for the Protection of Monuments, the Institute of the Middle East and UNESCO International, is set to shed light on the different methods of preserving national heritage in its various forms, in addition to enhancing the cooperative efforts between the different participating countries.
Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mahmoud Al Damaty stressed the importance of channeling knowledge and efforts on an international scale to combat the various means of sabotaging and trafficking of antiquities. This comes in parallel to the importance of facilitating archaeological work on different levels, especially when it comes to protecting cultural and civilization heritage.
As concrete as the proposed agenda may seem, it is worth questioning if it will help create more transparency for the media, as they work to cover the looting of antiquities. Such concerns come in light of the recent media gag that the Egyptian government passed regarding an incident with antiquities trafficking that involved two senior officials in Egypt.
Or is the conference another act that diverts the media attention from more grave concerns of what goes on underneath? We certainly hope not.