Launch of the 'Beirut Global Declaration' for the Protection of Cultural Heritage

The National Network for the Protection of Libraries, Archives, and Cultural Heritage in Lebanon has launched the “Beirut Global Declaration” to safeguard cultural heritage and human memory in southern Lebanon, in an initiative aimed at mobilizing international support to rescue threatened heritage.

The declaration asserts that the targeting of libraries, publishing houses, cultural centers, archives, and manuscript collections is not a collateral loss due to war, but rather a new chapter in a longer history of cultural and archival violence in Palestine and Lebanon since 1948. It aims to erase evidence that affirms people’s existence, history, and rights, and to sever the connection between land, memory, and identity. The declaration calls on cultural, academic, and international institutions to condemn the targeting of Lebanese cultural heritage, provide urgent international protection for it, launch programs to rebuild damaged libraries and institutions, and boycott Israeli cultural institutions.

It also calls for the establishment of an emergency archive to document the destruction and support the right of local communities to preserve their memory and narrative.

Lebanese Minister of Culture Ghassan Salameh emphasized that protecting cultural heritage is no less important than protecting human life, stressing that attacks on heritage and the environment constitute a violation of international humanitarian law and of humanity itself.

During the meeting, he announced the “One Million Books” campaign, aimed at contributing to the reconstruction of damaged public, private, and semi-public libraries by collecting one million books to replenish them with knowledge. This effort runs parallel to launching a process to document damages inflicted on libraries, establishing a national database, and developing an emergency plan to protect cultural collections during crises.

He pointed to measures taken by the ministry over the past months, including doubling the number of Lebanese sites included in UNESCO’s protection measures from 39 to 79, and successfully inscribing the ruins of Sur on the list of World Heritage in Danger.