Blue Shield Conference Videos Available Online!

Blue Shield International, together with our partners, the Romanian Institute for Heritage of the Romanian Ministry of Culture, were delighted to welcome our guests to

Shielding the Past: 70 years of the Hague Convention

our 2024 General Assembly and Training Course in Bucharest, Romania, where we came together to celebrate the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict on its 70th anniversary.

Our meeting focussed on training in the safeguarding and protection of heritage in crisis and the implementation of the 1954 Hague Convention safeguarding measures, with a day devoted to training in risk management and conflict, as well as panels and workshops, and on building the Blue Shield, peer mentoring and encouraging new committees, and offering those creating them the chance to learn from their peers.

You can now watch the following videos

1. On Tuesday morning, the main programme opened with welcome speeches beginning with Welcome Address Ambassador Simona-Mirela Miculescu – President of UNESCO General Conference and permanent delegate of Romania at UNESCO.
   
   
2. From our distinguished Romanian guests (missing the start, we apologise)
   Welcome Addresses:
   • Welcome and Moderator – Oana Zaharia, National Institute of Heritage, Bucharest
   • Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Janina Sitaru, State Secretary
   • National Commission of Romania for UNESCO – Madlene Șerban, Secretary General
   • ICOM Romania – Virgil Nițulescu, President
   • ICOMOS Romania – Irina Iamandescu, Board Member
   • The National Network of Romanian Museums – Ciprian Ștefan, President
     
     
3. An opening speech from President Stone in which he stressed the importance of cultural property protection.
   
   
4. The Panel discussion on the 70th anniversary of the Hague Convention.
   
   
5. National Committees aim to coordinate the heritage sector, and ensure no heritage is forgotten in a crisis. They have the ability to look beyond legalistic definitions of heritage to the communities on the ground, those who make and use heritage – tangible and intangible. They can often reach further than government agencies, working in partnership with them, but advocating for change when needed. It was our privilege to give the floor to two committees who experienced exceptional crises in 2023.
   
   

   The Chair of Blue Shield Türkiye spoke about their response to the devastating earthquake.

6. The Chair of Blue Shield Iceland spoke about disaster response, saving an archive from a volcano.
   
   
7. A key element of the conference was the opportunity for National Committees and National Committees Under Construction to share experiences and learn from each other, from all round the world, in lightning rounds. Presentations were shared from
   • Czechia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mali, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Austria, Italy, France, Iceland, Ireland, Belgium, Greece, USA, Australia, Pasifika, Côte D’Ivoire, Niger and Cameroun.
     
     
8. When Blue Shield was founded in 1996, it was with a vision for national committees in every country of the world. With that in mind, we were encouraged to provide a panel that would share perspectives on creating new national committees.