An Cosantóir

10 CULTUR AL PROPERT Y PROTECTION TR AINING AT UNTSI BRE AKS NEW GROUND CULTURAL PROPERTY PROTECTION TRAINING AT UNTSI BREAKS NEW GROUND The first Cultural Property Protection (CPP) training course at the United Nations Training School Ireland (UNTSI) took place in the Curragh from the 14th - 17th February 2022. It's aim, as outlined in the Course Mission, was to give participants an 'awareness of the responsibilities, obligations, and opportunities at home and on overseas deployments, regarding cultural prop- erty protection (CPP), the trade in illicit cultural property (CP) and their relevance and potential impact on peace- keeping mission success.' The 26 course participants included commissioned offi- cers, members of enlisted ranks and eight international military personnel from Belgium, Germany, and the UK alongside the personnel from Ireland. The training was conducted by Professor Peter Stone, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Property Protection (CPP) and Peace at New- castle University in the UK, and President of Blue Shield International (BSI), together with Major Robert Friel from the British Army's CPP unit. Objectives of the four-day training included enhanc- ing participants knowledge of the legal instruments relating to CPP under International humanitarian law, in particular, the 1954 Hague Convention and its two Protocols (1954 and 1999), and the 1970 UN Convention on Prohibiting and Preventing the illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Other topics included CPP within Customary International Law, Human Rights Law, CPP-related UN Treaties and Security Council Resolutions and International Criminal Law. Of particular interest for the participants were Major Friel's and Col. Scott Dejesse of the USA Army's presen- tations on developing a CPP capability within the Armed Forces. UNIFIL's cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), the Lebanese national authorities, heritage NGO Biladi, and the Lebanese Blue Shield, during the emergency response to the August 2020 explosion in the Beirut Port was explained by Col Youssef Haider of LAF and UNIFIL's CIMIC officer, Svetlana Jovic. This cooper- ation highlighted the important nexus between the mil- itary and the humanitarian and heritage sectors during conflict or following natural or human-made disasters, and was emphasised again during Professor Stone's presentation on the work of BSI, and its CPP agreements with NATO, UNIFIL and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on CPP training and advocacy. Whereas the destruction of cultural property can be used as a weapon of war, conversely, the protection of sacred sites and monuments during military deploy- ments or peacekeeping operations can be a 'force mul- tiplier' and lead to mission success by gaining the trust of host nations and local communities for whom their cultural heritage is an intrinsic part of identity and be- longing. "Until now," remarked one participant, "if I were tasked to destroy an IED in a historic building, I'd blow the whole place up. Now I'd think about it differently." A tour of the Curragh Military Museum on the first afternoon, and a recce for a disaster preparedness plan, placed the morning's discussions into a practical con- text, giving the group food for thought for the third day's field exercise. This took place on Wednesday the 16th February in Dub- lin, with a fictious Peacekeeping deployment to 'Wilfland' By Jessica Stone CPP Training preparing the brief for the Force Commander. Professor Peter Stone presenting CPP.

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