Topic: 2025-Protecting Heritage Sites and Cultural Artifacts in Conflict Zones
Country: Philippines
Delegate Name: Ben Stuart
Protecting sites of cultural significance has been an issue as long as there has been warfare.
When the Japanese invasion of the Philippines happened during World War 2 many cultural
heritage sites were destroyed. The historical city of Manilla was heavily damaged, many of its
historic churches and the University of Santo Tomas were heavily damaged. In World War 2 in
general there was a wide array of destruction from the national library of Serbia to the entire
town of Warsaw Poland. Each time a war is started, places of great cultural significance on each
side are lost. More recently radicalization of Islam has spread to south Asia and the Philippines,
this group ISIL is related to Al Qaeda in the middle east and has followed similar tactics. The
group has claimed at least 106 lives in unexpected terrorist attacks and carried out multiple
bombings. This poses a significant threat to cultural heritage sites in the Philippines because
similar groups have been known to specifically target cultural heritage sites for desecration.
The Philippines has always been a proponent of protecting cultural heritage sites during crises.
The Philippines in the past has signed onto two UNESCO policies regarding this topic. The
Philippines has partnered with UNESCO before such as in 2010 when it started teaching
indigenous culture in its schools to protect intangible cultural heritage. In 2022 the Philippines
recognized the threat that natural disasters posed to cultural heritage sites, they partnered with
UNESCO to update conservation guidelines and other measures were taken to build the sites’
overall defenses to natural disasters.
The Philippines has shown every willingness and excitement to work with UNESCO and looks
forward to working to further protect cultural heritage sights in the future. The Philippines
advocates for making the surrounding areas of cultural heritage sites sanctuary zones against
conflict. This would protect cultural heritage sites as well as greatly reduce civilian deaths. The
Philippines also increased UN funding for repairing and reconstructing cultural heritage sites
damaged in conflict zones and by natural disasters. If despite our efforts these sites are destroyed
then increased funding would help the communities around them rebuild faster.
Works Cited
DeepSeek. DeepSeek Research. Research about UNESCO topic’s relation to the Philippines.
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“Islamic State In Iraq And the Levant In South-East Asia (ISIL-SEA, ISIL-South East Asia) |
Security Council.” the United Nations,
https://main.un.org/securitycouncil/en/content/islamic-state-iraq-and-levant-south-east-as
ia-isil-sea-isil-south-east-asia. Accessed 14 February 2025.
Microsoft. Bing AI. Research about how the Philippines relates to the UNESCO topic. 2025.
Bing, bing.com. Text.
“Protecting Heritage Sites and Cultural Artifacts in Conflict Zones.” GLICA, GLICA, 2025,
https://glica.org/simun/committees/. Accessed 2025.
