What is Blue Shield ?

The International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS) was founded in 1996 by four non-governmental organisations (ngo's) who together cover the complete field of cultural heritage: ICA, ICOM, ICOMOS and IFLA, supported by UNESCO

The mission of the ICBS is to bring together and circulate information and to coordinate action in order to protect the world's cultural heritage in case of war and both natural and civil disasters.

The symbol of the Blue Shield was specified in the 1954 Hague Convention for marking cultural sites to give them protection from attack in the event of armed conflicts

In March 1999 the Second Protocol of this convention was accepted, at the event of an international diplomatic conference in The Hague, organized by the Dutch government.

Dutch initiative

Dutch representatives of the ngo's stated above, assembled in December 1999 in the Museum Meermanno in The Hague, in order to seek to esteablish a Dutch initiative for Blue Shield.

In january 2000 a second meeting took place in which was decided to take the initiative to launch a Dutch Blue Shield Committee.

The initiators represent the following cultural sectors:

• archives, on behalf of the ICA, the Royal Dutch Society of Archivists (KVAN
• libraries, on behalf of the IFLA, the National Library of the Netherlands (KB)
• historic sites and built heritage, on behalf of ICOMOS, National Contact Monuments (NCM)
• museums, on behalf of ICOM, the Netherlands Museum Association (NMV)

Mission

Blue Shield Nederland - in cooperation with all organisations involved - aims at :

Protection of Dutch cultural heritage against the threats evolved out of natural disasters and armed conflicts:

• Technical support: storage, guarding, prevention, safety, contingency/disaster plans;
• Legal support: government policy, regulations;
• Political support: respect, attitude, lobby, financial support;
• Management support: set up in the national professional field, registration, division of roles, publicity;
• Organizational support: link with international organisations;

Organizing of national and international help in case of natural disasters, molest and military actions:

• Coordinative support: awareness and commitment in the national professional field, division of roles, public relations, publicity;
• Building up network/database of experts
• Organizational support: link with international organisations.

Remits 2001

The Blue Shield Nederland Steering Group meets four times a year, or as often as necessary.

Steering Group Members 2001:

On behalf of ICOM, Marie Christine van der Sman (chair)
On behalf of IFLA, Ingeborg Verheul (secretary)
On behalf of ICA, Jo Jamar
On behalf of ICOMOS, Holger de Kat

Every meeting will be attended by observers on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCenW), the Ministry of Defense and the National UNESCO Committee. The secretarial office has its seat in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague. Blue Shield Nederland acts in close cooperation with the International Committee of the Blue Shield (ICBS), the National UNESCO Committee, Inspection Cultural Heritage, Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN), Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCenW) and the Netherlands Department for Conservation of Monuments (RDMZ).

Current activities:

1. Design and construction of a database containing names and details of experts and their expertise, build up from the ngo-web.
2. Set-up of a reporting procedure for disasters
3. Design of a Blue Shield Nederland-website (to be expected: june 2001)
4. Set-up of a policy plan

For further information please contact:

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