UNESCO urges UN meeting over Heritage destruction in Iraq

UNESCO's Director-General Irina Bokova has condemned the mass destruction of ancient artefacts by Islamic State (IS) fighters in Iraq, urging an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.

In a press release issued on Thursday, the United Nations' cultural agency denounced "a deliberate attack against Iraq's millennial history and culture and as an inflammatory incitement to violence and hatred."

"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. 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," Bokova said.

The UNESCO boss also said the destruction was a violation of the UN Security Council's resolution 2199 which "condemns the destruction of cultural heritage and adopts legally-binding measures to counter illicit trafficking of antiquities and cultural objects from Iraq and Syria."

In a video released on Thursday, a group of IS militants armed with sledgehammers and jackhammer smashed and defaced "large statues from the UNESCO world Heritage site of Hatra", and "unique artefacts from the archeological sites of the governorate of Ninewah", according to UNESCO. Endit