28 Jun 2012

UNESCO / WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN DANGER

The World Heritage Committee on Thursday placed Timbuktu and the Tomb of Askia in Mali, and the Liverpool docks in the UK on UNESCO’s List of World Heritage in Danger. UNESCO

Posted at: June 28, 2012 4:59 pm

Duration: 01:33

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: UNESCO / WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN DANGER
TRT: 1.33
SOURCE: UNESCO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: FILE

SHOTLIST:

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, TIMBUKTU, MALI

1. Various shots, Timbuktu town

FILE – 7 MAY 2012, LOCATION UNKNOWN

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Irina Bokova, UNESCO Director-General:
"These are extraordinary monuments of human creativity that stayed since the 15th century, venerated by the local people and worldwide. Our position of course is of rejection, of anger, of non-acceptance. We have sent many times, I personally have appealed to all parties to respect the sacred places."

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, GAO, MALI

3. Various shots, Tomb of Askia

FILE – DATE UNKNOWN, LIVERPOOL, UNITED KINGDOM

4. Various shots, city

STORYLINE:

The UN's cultural organization UNESCO today (28 June) placed two areas of Mali and the dockside of Liverpool on its 'List of World Heritage in Danger". 
    
The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia this week, said that conflict in Mali is threatening Timbuktu and the nearby Tomb of Askia, a 15th century emperor.

The decision aims to raise cooperation and support for the sites and asks Mali's neighbours to help prevent trafficking in cultural objects, amid concern that unscrupulous dealers could loot objects like ancient manuscripts and smuggle them abroad.

Northern Mali has experienced upheaval since fighting between government troops and Tuareg rebels resumed in January and rebel soldiers took control of the country in a coup earlier this year.

This May UNESCO's Director-General Irina Bokova sent a mission to Mali to help the authorities find ways to better protect the heritage sites, after an Islamist group desecrated the mausoleum of Sidi Mahmoud in Timbuktu, burning part of it and preventing people from gathering there for Friday prayers.
 
Bokova has repeatedly urged international cooperation to protect the two sites which bear witness to the golden age of Timbuktu in the 16th century and a history that stretches even further back. Timbuktu was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1988, and the Tomb of Askia in 2004.

The UNESCO Committee said a proposed construction of 'Liverpool Waters' will significantly extend the city centre and alter the skyline and profile of the old dockside site, inscribed on the World Heritage List as 'Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City' in 2004.
 
The List of World Heritage in Danger is designed to inform the international community of threats to the outstanding universal values for which a property has been inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to encourage corrective action.