Press
release
Berlin,
1 June 2024
Today,
the non-governmental organization World Heritage
Watch presents its tenth annual report on
threats to UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It
contains 55 contributions from all continents on
cultural monuments, historic city centers,
cultural landscapes and nature reserves,
including several with indigenous
populations.
Every
year, the World Heritage Watch Report highlights
the state of humanity's common heritage. It is
submitted to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre
and the Member States of the International
Convention Concerning the Protection of the
World Natural and Cultural Heritage (“World
Heritage Convention”) to help them make a more
comprehensive assessment of the threats and take
more appropriate decisions to address
them.
Some
of the most noteworthy reports cover:
Ancient
Kherson in the Crimea (Ukraine)
For
the first time, an international publication has
a report about the ancient Tauric Khersonese,
located on the Russian-occupied Ukrainian
peninsula of Crimea. The report documents
depressing details on the disfiguration of the
site with monstrous building projects by the
Russian occupants, and its ideological
appropriation by the Russian Orthodox
Church.
The
mosque of Cordoba and the Byzantine churches in
Istanbul
While
visits to the Hagia Sophia have been
significantly restricted since it was converted
into a mosque, a second church of great artistic
and historical significance is now also being
used as a mosque. The nationalistic motives
behind these measures are hardly concealed.
Conversely, the Catholic Church of Spain is also
using the mosque of Cordoba to overlay the
Islamic character of the building by exhibiting
Christian religious artefacts.
Palestine
For
the first time, World Heritage Watch has
compiled available information on the condition
of three sites in Gaza that were on the
Tentative List for inscription on the World
Heritage List. On the West Bank, the Israeli
government has used its de facto control to
disfigure the building of the Old Testament
Tombs of the Patriarchs in Hebron through
constructions, and to erect military outposts in
the cultural landscape of Battir near
Bethlehem.
St.
Catherine's Monastery in Sinai
For
some years now, gigantic tourist facilities are
being built in the immediate vicinity of the
famous St. Catherine Monastery. The plans were
never submitted to UNESCO, and the International
Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), and
when they were alerted by civil society, there
was no response. This is hardly anything other
than a total failure on the part of the UNESCO
World Heritage Convention, with catastrophic
consequences.
Forgotten
conflict areas in Sudan and Ethiopia
With
reports from Sudan and the breakaway Ethiopian
region of Tigray, World Heritage Watch draws
attention to two forgotten conflict regions
where unique cultural monuments are being looted
and destroyed as a result of civil
wars.
Forced
relocation of local populations in the name of
world heritage
Governments
are increasingly committing serious human rights
violations in connection with alleged protection
measures for World Heritage sites. In the case
of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, many
international institutions have called on the
government of Tanzania to end the eviction of
the Maasai from their traditional homelands, and
in Angkor, Cambodia, Amnesty International has
now intervened. Meanwhile, UNESCO's position
remains ambiguous.
The
Wadden Sea
Four
major nature conservation organizations from
Germany and the Netherlands point to cumulative
threats to the fragile ecosystem from oil and
gas extraction, LNG terminals and offshore wind
turbines. UNESCO has already threatened to
withdraw World Heritage status if new projects
are added. This shows a conflict of objectives
between ending dependency from Russian gas,
climate change mitigation and nature
conservation that the German government has not
yet resolved.
New
coral bleaching in the Great Barrier
Reef
For
the first time, World Heritage Watch is making
the alarming findings about the new, fifth coral
bleaching event last winter accessible to the
general public outside the expert
world.
Good
news from the Grand Canyon
Last
year, President Biden declared nearly 1 million
acres (404,685.642 ha) adjacent to Grand Canyon
National Park a national monument, not only
prohibiting further uranium mining, but also
protecting sacred sites of several indigenous
nations.
At
many other World Heritage sites, local
communities have been waiting for years for more
decisive action from the UNESCO World Heritage
Committee, for example in Stonehenge,
Diyarbakir, St. Petersburg and the Acropolis of
Athens. Frustration is growing that this body,
made up of diplomats, gives priority to
political interests rather than to the
protection of heritage. In Venice, at Lake
Ohrid, but also on the Upper Middle Rhine
Valley, people have almost lost hope that the
UNESCO World Heritage Convention can deliver on
its promise to protect the sites under their
tutelage.
Contact:
Stephan Doempke +49 151
1167-4691
