News Analysis: Why UN blue helmets protecting world cultural sites not likely

Italy has called for the United Nations to create a special force to help protect important archaeological or cultural sites. But experts say the proposal may not be realistic.

The concern was raised by the recent destruction of important cultural treasures in war-torn Syria and Iraq at the hands of the Islamic State (IS). The group has damaged and looted many ancient sites in the region, and a video released online showed members of the group shattering priceless museum pieces, some of which date to the 7th century BC, in the Central Museum of Mosul, in Iraq.

Italy is a natural choice to try to bring up the issue of protecting such sites. As the seat of the Roman Empire and the birthplace of the Renaissance, Italy's cultural riches are difficult to quantify.

With 51 World Heritage sites registered with the United Nations Education Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Italy has more than any other country (China is second on the list, followed by Spain, France, and Germany). Italy has 358 state-run museums, and nearly 5,000 monuments or other sites of cultural or historical interest.

"Italy is a cultural superpower," Frank Gibson, a U.S. author on cultural issues who specializes in European history, told Xinhua. "With every country required to pay for protecting and maintaining its culture, Italy almost surely has a bigger bill to pay than any other country."

The bill is paid by a cash-strapped Italian government forced to slash spending and reduce services as it seeks to pay down debt without increasing the tax burden.

"From one point of view it makes perfect sense for the world to contribute to protecting these sites," Giuliana Calcani, an archeology and art history expert with Roma Tre University, said in an interview. "These are not Italian sites; they are part of the world's cultural richness."

The Italian proposal would create a United Nations military unit made up of multinational soldiers to protect high-profile heritage sites that could be symbolic targets for the IS or other extremist groups.

Dario Franceschini, Italy's minister of culture, has said that protecting heritage could not be left to individual states, but rather to a "blue helmets culture," a reference to the light-blue helmets used by UN peacekeepers.

The UN has moved to ban the trade in antiquities coming from war zones like Syria and Iraq. Such trade has been a lucrative source of revenue for the IS.

But the decision to use UN soldiers to protect cultural sites would be unprecedented, and, according to Luca Angrisani, a security analyst with the Italian Department of National Intelligence and a member of the National Association of Public and Private Security Experts, it would also be very difficult.

"Protecting a normal museum, in a building and with doors and windows, and so on, is only as challenging as protecting a government building," Angrisani told Xinhua. "But protecting an open air sight like the ruins of Pompeii or the Colosseum, that is much, much more difficult."

It would also represent a logistical challenge in a country like Italy.

"If the blue helmets came to Italy to protect all the cultural sites, given the number of sites here the country would start to look like an occupied territory," said Calcani, the professor. Endit