UN culture’s blue helmets were born in Florence

FLORENCE, ITALY – The G7 nations (Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Britain, US and Italy) signed an agreement in Florence to strengthen international collaboration to protect cultural heritage: a sort of culture‘s blue helmets.

Italy has put together its unit active in areas where the UN has humanitarian operations. The Culture Ministry Dario Franceschini said the accord included a commitment to enable such restorers and art experts to join missions in conflict zones.

The G7 group of rich nations committed to pursuing the creation of a UN peacekeeping force, the culture’s blue helmets, to protect world heritage sites from destruction in conflict and combatting the trafficking of plundered treasures.

Destroying antiquities at heritage sites like the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra and the shrines of Timbuktu in Mali has increasingly become a tactic of war for groups like Daesh, both to feed propaganda and profit from smuggling, the UN says.

Armed UN peacekeepers deployed in countries like Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and Syria are commonly known as Blue Helmets. Last week, the UN Security Council adopted its first ever resolution focusing on cultural heritage, in which it called on states to step up the fight against the looting and trafficking of archaeological, religious and other cultural artefacts.

Italy, which is hosting G7 meetings this year, set up a special police force in 1969 to track down stolen artifacts and artworks, which are often smuggled abroad. Since then, the force has recovered some 800,000 artifacts stolen in Italy, which has more UNESCO world heritage sites than any other country.