PARTICIPATION OF A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE CULTURAL INSTITUTE IN A SPECIALIZED TRAINING COURSE IN ITALY
In the period March 11 - 15, 2024, under the auspices of the European Security and Defense College (ESDC), the Italian Center for Higher Defense Studies (CASD) in Rome organized the Cultural Properties Protection Course (CPPC), in which Iliyan Lolugov - Head of Cultural Policy Department at the State Institute for Culture - MFA took part. The course is an initiative within the ESDC's training program 2024 and is aimed at senior officials and mid-level experts from EU Member States, EU institutions and agencies. The course examines and analyzes the challenges to the preservation of cultural assets and provides tools to address these challenges. The training is a timely opportunity for the participants (representatives of international NGOs working at the operational level in conflict prevention, the administration, diplomats, military and police) to create a network of contacts between experts to work in coordination in the field of the protection of cultural values and their management in the context of post-conflict reconstruction and stabilization. Places and nominations for the course are determined by means of an electronic pre-selection platform based on a three-component test for the assessment of autonomous knowledge (AKU) of applicants prior to the start of the face-to-face phase of the course. The total number of participants was 35 people from EU member states. The course aims to raise awareness of the need to protect cultural heritage, which covers intangible and material movable and immovable heritage, as a set of cultural values that bear historical memory, national identity and have scientific or cultural value. The course also aims to give an overview of the scope of EU activities and efforts for the protection of cultural property and to provide the basis for an integrated and holistic approach to protection in crisis situations, based on good practices of international organizations (NATO, OSCE, UNESCO) and their goals in the field of protection of cultural values. Among the important topics of the training course are: Development and protection of cultural values - regulatory framework, International law on cultural heritage through the lens of the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice, Protection of cultural values - challenges, opportunities and risks during military operations in the 21st century , Crimes against cultural property in times of conflict and crisis, organized crime, countering the illegal trafficking of cultural property, EU cultural policies relevant to the CPPS, UNESCO's role in the protection of cultural property and the cultural rights of minorities. In recent years, irreplaceable cultural values have been irretrievably lost in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Mali and Afghanistan, etc. Protecting and caring for cultural values both directly and through the work of international organizations and the building of intercultural links - is a vital part of the EU's cultural policy, showing respect for European heritage and that of other cultures as a valuable source of common heritage and world cultural diversity of humanity. The course offers an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the EU's cultural policy for the protection of cultural values and the contribution to the further development of a European culture of security and cooperation between the EU and non-EU partners for the protection of the cultural heritage of humanity and its preservation for future generations. generations.