Under the patronage of the Lebanese Ministry of Culture – Directorate General of Antiquities, a two days workshop on: ‘Disaster Risk Reduction to Protect Natural and Cultural Heritage’ will take place in Byblos on 15-16 October emphasizing the Lebanese ratification of the 1999 Second Protocol to the UNESCO 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
Co-organised within the framework of an MoU between the Louis Cardahi Foundation of the Lebanese American University and WATCH the workshop is aimed to contribute to the improvement of the level of conservation and protection of natural and cultural heritage locally, nationally and internationally from the impact of natural and man-induced disasters in line with international Law, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 and the MDG for Sustainable Development 2030.
The workshop intends to further contribute to the construction in Lebanon of a model of a civil military cooperation to be implemented both in times of peace and in the event of conflict focusing on the protection of cultural heritage and cultural diversity as a key to socio economic and cultural resilience for any society.
Lebanon was one of the first countries to ratify the UNESCO 1954 Hague Convention and its first additional protocol. With the ratification of the Second Protocol the country takes its share of responsibility in the preservation of the cultural legacy of humanity. WATCH commitment is to contribute provide a concrete technical and scientific backstopping to the effort made by any State Party to the UNESCO Conventions in their effort to establish and maintain the rules of international law for the protection of natural and cultural heritage.