As announced in her first report to the human right's council in March, the special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Ms. Karima Bennoune, intends to devote her next thematic report to the Intentional destruction of cultural heritage and would like to invite of relevant actors to send contributions to inform her report.

The consultation aims to assess the intentional destruction of cultural heritage as a violation of human rights and its impact on the exercise of the rights to enjoy and access cultural heritage, to access, contribute to and enjoy the arts and to participate in cultural life. Contributions would particularly be appreciated on the following issues:

• What is the impact of the intentional destruction of cultural heritage on the enjoyment of human rights, and particularly, on cultural rights? What is the impact of destruction of tangible cultural heritage on intangible cultural heritage, on cultural practices and beliefs, and on the right of concerned persons to participate in cultural life?
• What are examples of different situations illustrating the above (situations of armed / non armed conflict or international / internal conflict; destructions by States / Non-States actors; geographical or other diversity, etc.)?
• What are examples of good practices, especially with regard to prevention and protection against destruction, as well as repatriation and reconstruction measures of cultural heritage, including through human and cultural rights education and awareness?
• What strategies are in place to protect cultural heritage defenders at risk? Under which circumstances can they be considered as cultural rights defenders?

Submission of maximum 2'500 words should be submitted no later than 10 June 2016 to [email protected].
More details can be found here:  www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/CulturalRights/Pages/Intentionaldestructionofculturalheritage.aspx

http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/CulturalRights/Pages/Intentionaldestructionofculturalheritage.aspx