University of Baghdad launches a worldwide campaign for the protection of monuments

  As usual the university initiates as a human institution namely and as an educational and cultural institution secondly in supporting civilization and human heritage to be the sponsor and the supporter for all major projects in the service of man and society, and from its educational platform, it implants trust among all when addresses many important issues in society, so nowadays when our monuments have been robbed by gangs and imperialist countries, we find that many of the museums of other countries that allegedly support the international security are filled with monuments of other countries and they boast publicly of that looting. Let our scientific institutions and express their historical responsibility in the preservation of the civilized heritage and antiquities that represent the symbol of knowledge, culture and civilization, as described by Irina Bokova during the campaign she launched entitled “unite for heritage” in our prestigious university, to formally announce the birth of a new union starting from the university of Baghdad to collect antiquities and human heritage in the world.

  In a scientific demonstration of the university of Baghdad, especially in the college of arts, department of antiquities, a great worldwide campaign was launched entitled “unite for heritage” that was attended by the minister of higher education and scientific research, prof. Dr. Hussein Shahristani, the Secretary-General of UNESCO, Ms. Irina Bokova, prof Dr. Alaa Abdul Hussein, president of the university, also attended by Mr. Adel Shershab, minister of tourism, several deans of faculties and students at the department of archaeology. This campaign was prepared for by university of Baghdad in collaboration with the UNESCO and its representative in Iraq.

  Prof. Dr. Hussain al-Shahristani, minister of higher education and scientific research followed up the preparations for this demonstration for its importance and its active role in maintaining human civilization that he described as a historical responsibility in a speech delivered by His Excellency in the hall of the college of arts, emphasizing on the horrific terrorist attack against Iraq and human civilization and praising all the institutions that seek to preserve the heritage such as UNESCO to support and protect Iraqi antiquities, as well as calling for international solidarity, preservation of cultural heritage and working hard for rehabilitation of monuments from destruction through organizing workshops and seminars on ancient history. Prof. Dr. Alaa Abdul Hussein, president of the university in a speech during the campaign, stated that the university remains as a lodestar of science and peace, and that the monuments of Iraq represent the depth of history from which we distil our strength in elegance and prominence, and that the university would improve by science and knowledge that are the real synonym of battlefront in combating terrorism, stressing that pen and book are our real weapons by which we face the enemies of the world and transform world to light, and that our campaign in heritage protection is a challenge for Daash band that has devastated land and noted that the initiative of UNESCO launched from Iraq is having a historical and a cultural depth and it would be the beginning of the protection of the heritage of humanity and its dignity and it is compatible with the university march that is inherent in its humanity to create a bright future. Ms. Irina Bokova, UNESCO secretary during her speech in the campaign, declared that this organization stand with Iraq to repel the barbarian onslaught aimed at heritage and antiquities, and that responsibility includes all people. Also she stated that the work of UNESCO comes within the global campaign launched by Baghdad university entitled “unite for heritage” to renounce violence, hatred, racial discrimination and the declaration of solidarity for conservation of heritage, human rights and combating terrorist attacks. We will continue to pursue towards spreading of love, forgiveness and in concert with the international efforts to build future and preservation of past. Ms. Bokova visited the department of archaeology at the college of arts, met a group of the students of the fourth grade in this department and delivered a brief lecture, then debate was opened with students on issues of Iraqi antiquities and heritage in the presence of the university president and dean of the college of fine arts. Mr. Adel Shershab, minister of tourism and antiquities in his speech called the international community to preserve the cultural diversity in societies and work to prevent trafficking of antiquities and praised the UNESCO’s mission to support cultural, educational and scientific trends in all worldwide countries. Also the campaign included events and activities against violence and a call to stop the theft of antiquities, in addition to a musical cultural presentation by the university students. Ms. Irina Bokova expressed her appreciation of the efforts in this demonstration and confirmed the support of UNESCO for all aspects of civilization in our home, so the official UNESCO site published details about this campaign on the following link:

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/media-services/single-view/news/unite4heritage_campaign_launched_by_unesco_director_general_in_baghdad/#.VRsNUfmsWSA

The team of the university website accompanied the demonstration, documening it with videos and photos.

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