Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ address via video-recorded message at the European Humanitarian Forum (Brussels, 21.03.2022)

Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikos Dendias’ address via video-recorded message at the online discussion «The role of the private sector in fostering local identity and culture: emergency preparedness, relief and reconstruction», organized by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and The Heritage Management Organization in the context of the European Humanitarian Forum

Esteemed Colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Greece is proud to actively participate in the First European Humanitarian Forum and to organize today’s event.

We consider unfortunate, but timely, that the Forum is being held as we are facing the war in Ukraine.

From Ukraine to Yemen, and from Afghanistan to Ethiopia, the current scale of humanitarian needs is unprecedented.

The concurrent funding gap for humanitarian action has rendered imperative introducing innovative solutions.

That is exactly why Greece has taken the initiative to organise this Humanitarian Talk.

Our aim is to highlight the potential role of the protection of cultural heritage in preventing and mitigating humanitarian crisis.

Images of people struggling to protect cultural assets have recently reached news outlets from Ukraine.

Similarly, images from the deliberate destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan haunt us since 2001.

What we have been witnessing is the weaponisation of the destruction of cultural heritage.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is important to protect cultural heritage, which is enshrined in International Humanitarian Law, as a fundamental driver of social resilience and development.

Therefore, we ought to advocate for its inclusion in emergency response and humanitarian relief systems.

Furthermore, there is an immense pressure on available resources for humanitarian action at the current juncture.

For this reason, we need to turn to new and innovative sources of funding.

This includes calling upon the private sector to contribute to this effort.

In Greece, we are embarking upon an open constructive public dialogue on these issues with the private sector.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today’s event proves our strong commitment for further deepening our cooperation with other EU Member States and the Commission.

It proves also our support for the inclusion of the cultural heritage protection in the emergency response and humanitarian relief systems.

In this regard, we believe that a relative Team Europe Initiative should also be developed.

Thank you.