UNESCO Activities for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Territory of Partially Recognized and Unrecognized States

UNESCO is the leading international organization of the UN system for the development of international humanitarian cooperation and the protection of historical and cultural heritage throughout the world. The organization has a unique institutional capacity to carry out core activities in relation to disputed states. However, today the problem of insufficient representation of the organization in unrecognized and partially recognized states remains. The relevance of this study lies in the absence of works that systematically analyze the problems that UNESCO faces in countries that have the status of unrecognized states. The subject of the work is the UNESCO’s policy for the protection of cultural and natural heritage in the disputed territories. In each case, episodes of interaction or attempts of cooperation between the leadership of the above-mentioned countries with UNESCO are considered from a historical perspective. The article uses the case study method, for the analysis the cases of unrecognized states with a rich tangible and intangible cultural heritage — Kosovo, Taiwan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Palestine, Abkhazia and South Ossetia — were selected. In each case, episodes of interaction or attempts of cooperation between the leadership of the above-mentioned countries with UNESCO are considered in a historical perspective. The novelty of the study lies primarily in the identification of obstacles UNESCO missions face and in the adjustment and improvement of conventional mechanisms and methods for the harmonious coexistence of different cultures, in the development of strategies and canons for the protection of cultural heritage in each of the cases mentioned above. The author comes to the conclusion that one of the most significant factors is the international context in which UNESCO's work is carried out in relation to each of the unrecognized and partially recognized states. In the process of implementing its activities in the context of acute collisions, UNESCO faces obstacles in the form of politicization of the issue of preservation and ownership of cultural heritage sites. At the same time, UNESCO provides an extremely constructive platform that contributes to the establishment of cooperation in the field of preserving the cultural heritage of these territories based on common humanistic values.

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