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Outstanding universal value: Preserving heritage protects our future

Irina Bokova
20 February 2025
Irina Bokova
Former Director-General,
UNESCO

This year the United Nations Organisation for Education, Culture and Sciences (UNESCO), like the UN, will celebrate its 80th anniversary.

UNESCO was founded in London, at the Institute for Civil Engineering, as the first UN Specialised Agency, and was the expression of a different approach towards the post-war world reconstruction. The idea emerged in 1942, when the United Kingdom organised the first Conferences of Allied Ministers of Education, presided by Ms. Ellen Wilkinson, Minister of Education of the UK.

I always find this inspiring. The war was far from won. Despite everything, in the very midst of conflict, the UK and the allied forces were promoting cooperation in education, culture and science as a way to build lasting peace.

The term “Soft Power” was not coined yet, but the words of the UNESCO Constitution were a strong embodiment of the much-needed power priority shift: “Since wars start in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”

I find this even more inspiring today, amid the multiple crises we are living through, when multilateral “grammar” is slowly regressing and the balance of power is supplanting diplomacy and collaboration for the global public good.

During its 80 years, UNESCO has served as a global collaborative platform for intellectual debate, fostering partnerships, encouraging the creation of knowledge and launching new ideas. This is how the concept of education for all, knowledge-based societies, expressions of cultural diversity, global citizenship education, ethics of science, ethics of climate change and now ethics of AI were born.

Among them, there is no other concept that captures in such a powerful and lasting manner the universality of humanity’s creativity as the World Heritage, embodied in the UNESCO Convention on Word Cultural and Natural Heritage and one the most widely ratified international legal instrument today.

With its 1223 sites, the World Heritage List is an open book of humanity’s common history and a powerful tool of intercultural dialogue and cultural diplomacy.

Based on the respect and recognition of the “outstanding universal value” of monuments, sites, temples, historic cities and landscapes that embrace all the diversity of humanity, the World Heritage is one of the most visionary and transformative ideas of the 20th century. This is the idea that national heritage belonging to different cultures may represent “outstanding universal value” for all and should be protected by international law.

Humanity stands united in all its diversity around shared values, and all cultures are different but that difference does not divide - it unites. When a World Heritage site is destroyed anywhere in the world, we are all diminished, even if it is from another region, another period, another culture, another religion.

The adoption of the concept of cultural heritage as having a “universal” value represented a monumental shift in the thinking about culture and arts as only a national identity expression.

It brought together the universal and the national, the global and the local, making a unique blend of values for cultural patrimony and visual arts all across time and space as heritage, belonging both to a unique culture as well as to all of humanity at the same time.

In the powerful lines of the Convention:

“Outstanding universal value means cultural and/or natural significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and to be of common importance for present and future generations of all humanity. As such, the permanent protection of this heritage is of the highest importance to the international community as a whole”.

It is in sad moments that we come to appreciate the power of heritage to understand who we are and where we come from. The destruction of cultural heritage, what I called at the time “cultural cleansing” by extremists in the Middle East during the conflicts in Afghanistan, Mali, Syria and Iraq, not only shocked us profoundly, but made us revisit our relations with history, heritage, identity and common values.

The deliberate destruction of humanity’s cultural heritage and looting of cultural sites also brought about a new understanding about why culture matters and its link with peace and security. The adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2347 of March 2017 broke new ground. It focused attention on culture and heritage preservation as a tool for peace and reconciliation, as well as the need for cultural “literacy” and intercultural dialogue.

And this is where “Soft Power” found its expression.

UNESCO helped save the temples of Nubia, in Egypt.

UNESCO rebuilt the old bridge of Mostar, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, destroyed during the war in ex-Yugoslavia.

UNESCO rebuilt all of the 14 mausoleums destroyed by extremists in Timbuktu, Mali.

Today UNESCO is rebuilding the “spirit of Mosul” in Iraq.

The rising importance of heritage protection reveals the role it plays in the “Soft Power” politics today, exacerbated by the geopolitics, globalisation and connectivity. It is more than obvious that cultural diplomacy is becoming ever more important in the spectrum of both traditional and new tools of diplomatic and political interaction between countries – both as a tool of national diplomacy and as cultural diplomacy “beyond national borders” in the search of the “common global good.”

In every corner of the world, our common history is written into monuments and cities, in the arts and in traditions passed down through generations.

This history defines us, connects us, and shapes our future, but it is also under threat of being erased by time, conflict, and neglect. The preservation of cultural heritage is not just a task for a few—it’s a responsibility we all share, and the power of global collaboration can make the difference between remembering our past and heritage versus losing it forever.

Cultural heritage is not just about bricks and stones, but how we belong to each other. Our heritage holds our identities and connects us, and cultural sites where history lives on are also vital to the future of our common humanity.

About the Author

Irina Bokova
Former Director-General of UNESCO

Irina Bokova, born in Sofia (Bulgaria), has been two terms the Director-General of UNESCO from 2009 to 2017.

As Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova was actively engaged in the adoption of UN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, particularly Goal 4 on inclusive and quality education, promoting the role of culture and the protection of the world’s cultural heritage, as well as advocating for the critical role of science for sustainable development.

She was particularly active in promoting intercultural dialogue, mutual respect and cultural diversity, defending cultural heritage in conflict in Mali, Syria and Iraq and in denouncing extremists’ destruction of heritage as a tool of war, which lead to the adoption by the UN Security Council of several land mark resolutions on the link between maintaining peace, security and the protection of cultural heritage.

She has received state distinctions from more than 40 countries and is Doctor honoris causa of leading universities across the world, such as King’s College and University of Edinburgh, UK, University of Geneva, Switzerland, Paris-Saclay, France, Boston University, US, Catholic University of Milan, Italy, Tonji University, China, Kyung-Hee University, Republic of Korea, among others.

In 2016 Irina Bokova received the World Wild Life’s Duke of Edinburgh Conservation award for her contribution to environmental conservation and climate action and advancing sustainable development.

In 2016 she was on the Forbes list of the most influential women.

In 2020, she was elected International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2021 - Honorary Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS).

In 2022 she was elected Patron of the International Science Council (ISC).

Currently, she is Chair of the Governing Council of the UN University of Peace, Costa Rica, Member of the Board of “Ban Ki Moon Centre for Global Citizens”, Member of the Leadership Council of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), New York, Chair of the Board of Democracy and Culture Foundation, Co-Founder of Global Women Leaders (GLW), Madrid, lecturer on cultural diplomacy and sustainability, Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA) at SciencesPo, among other activities.

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