A UNESCO-backed donor conference at the Louvre museum in Paris pledged US$75 million (around €70 million) on Monday for a new initiative to protect cultural heritage at risk from conflict and extremism. He also stated that France and Italy will propose a UN Security Council motion aimed at increasing cultural heritage protection. "At Bamiyan, Mosul, Palmyra, Timbuktu and elsewhere, fanatics have engaged in trafficking, looting and the destruction of cultural heritage, adding to the persecution of populations," said Hollande. Militant groups are targeting both people and cultural heritage sites for the same ends, the French President added. "[It’s] the same objective: to break what was there before in order to kill hope afterwards, to eradicate human and cultural diversity."

Source: Egypt Independent March 21, 2017 12:00 UTC