EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini announced on Thursday 21 September that the EU will now be sending cultural property protection experts on all its civilian and military missions.
"We have decided to appoint Cultural Property Protection Experts in our Missions. This is a concrete step that is going to make a change on the ground", Mogherini stated at an event in New York on protecting cultural heritage against terrorism and mass atrocities.
"The first of them will be deployed in Iraq, as part of our new civilian mission there, as early as next month", Mogherini said. This will support local security forces and Europeans on the ground in their efforts to protect cultural heritage and cultural property.
The protection of cultural heritage became part of the mandate of all the European Union's military and civilian missions when the EU’s international cultural relations strategy was adopted. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)