UNESCO Demands Meeting Over Artifacts Destruction

The head of the United Nations’ cultural agency, UNESCO, on Thursday demanded an emergency meeting of the world body’s Security Council following the mass destruction by jihadists of ancient artifacts in Iraq.

 

“This attack is far more than a cultural tragedy – this is also a security issue as it fuels sectarianism, violent extremism and conflict in Iraq,” UNESCO chief Irina Bokova said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency.

 

“This is why I have immediately seized the President of the Security Council to ask him to convene an emergency meeting of the Security Council on the protection of Iraq’s cultural heritage as an integral element for the country’s security,” she added.

 

The statement came after the Islamic State (ISIS) jihadist group on Thursday released a video in which its terrorists are seen smashing ancient statues to pieces with sledgehammers in the main museum in Mosul, their biggest hub and Iraq’s second city.

 

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