Chair on Cultural Property Protection and Peace

Heritage provides people with a sense of place, identity, and belonging. By giving us a reason to live, the protection of heritage is inherently linked to the protection of people. With this in mind, it is appalling that heritage is frequently damaged and destroyed in armed conflict, sometimes on purpose. The UNESCO Chair team at Newcastle tries to reduce this damage by working with the heritage, military, and humanitarian sectors to plan to conserve heritage during peacetime, as well as ensure its protection during conflict and following natural disaster.

The work of this Chair

One of the main objectives of the Chair is to establish an effective advisory body to UNESCO on heritage protection during conflict. In order to effect the necessary perspective change towards heritage protection, Peter and his team have worked to develop close relations with both national and multinational armed forces, including NATO. They also work with the humanitarian sector in order to encourage the idea that the protection of people cannot be achieved effectively without protecting their heritage as well.

In 2016/17 Peter advised Ministers, Members of both Houses of Parliament, and civil servants on new internal legislation to enable the UK to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and both its Protocols of 1954 and 1999. The Hague Convention is the primary piece of international humanitarian law relating to protecting heritage during conflict and so this was a monumental achievement.

The chair is heavily involved in supporting the development of the international NGO the Blue Shield, an advisory body to UNESCO on the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. Highlights of this work have included Blue Shield signing agreements with both NATO and the International Committee of the Red Cross – both huge steps forward acknowledging the importance of protection heritage during armed conflict.

More information about the work of this Chair

About the Chair Lead

As Professor of Heritage Studies, Peter Stone specialised in heritage education and management. In 2003, a few weeks before the USA and UK-led coalition invaded Iraq, he was asked by the UK Ministry of Defence to help identify and protect the archaeological cultural heritage in Iraq. Unfortunately, in his words, “he was the wrong person, approached far too late, for anything he might do to make any real impact”.

Professor Stone therefore realised that if someone didn’t do something then cultural heritage would be a constant, perhaps increasingly deliberate casualty of armed conflict. As a result, the UNESCO Chair in Cultural Property Protection & Peace was established in 2016, and Peter is now Chair of the UK Committee of the Blue Shield as well as Vice President of Blue Shield International.

More informartion about the Chair Lead