An Extraordinary General Assembly of the ANCBS (Association of National Committees of the Blue Shield) was held with ICBS (International Committee of the Blue Shield) representatives present in Rome in 2014. It was at this meeting that the ICBS and ANCBS agreed to amalgamate.
Several decisions were adopted at the Rome Conference:
- The Statute of the organization was adopted;
- A Board with ten members was appointed and Karl Von Habsburg was re-appointed President;
- The organization’s headquarters will continue to be in The Hague;
- The registration of the organisation will be under Dutch legislation.
The present activities of the organisation are mainly directed towards protection of cultural assets in countries struck by war conflicts, especially:
- The issue of protection of cultural assets in Syria;
- Mapping of archaeological sites in order to prevent bombing;
- Activities in Mali;
- In Pakistan;
- In Afghanistan and other sites in the world.
The meeting focused around a conference: Cultural Heritage and Conflict: Commemorating 60 Years of the Hague Convention (May 15-21, 2014) at the American University of Rome (AUR). (Rome 2014 conference programme).
The conference was co-organised by the American University of Rome, the Blue Shield, and the World Archaeological Congress. At this meeting, the Blue Shield supported the World Archaeological Congress to develop the WAC-Dead Sea Accord on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.
Some of this information is taken from the publication by Krste Bogoeski: Twenty Years Blue Shield (1996-2016).
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