On 26 September 2003 the Prince Claus Fund launched a cultural emergency aid fund called the Cultural Emergency Response. This initiative was triggered by the news of the recent looting of cultural heritage in Baghdad (Iraq). The aim of the Cultural Emergency Response is to provide emergency aid to international cultural heritage that is damaged and threatened by war or natural disasters so as to prevent further loss. Each disaster will be assessed in terms of immediate needs; this will involve both local and international expertise and networks.

The fund’s co-founder is the International Committee of the Blue Shield, the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross.

At the launch of the fund, a lecture on the lethal relationship between war and cultural heritage by Dr. Selma Al-Radi, an Iraqi archaeologist and the director of the Amiriya Restoration Project in Rada (Yemen). She was a member of the UNESCO mission sent this summer by the United Nations to assess the state of the National Museum in Baghdad.

The Prince Claus Fund.
The Prince Claus Fund is a platform for intercultural exchange. In co-operation with individuals and organisations in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Fund undertakes contemporary activities and publications in the field of culture and development. The annual Prince Claus Awards are a part of this policy. Freedom of cultural expression and respect for cultural identity are starting points for the development of new activities. They also form the ideological basis for the founding of the Cultural Emergency Response.

For further information, please contact:
Prince Claus Fund
Hoge Nieuwstraat 30
2514 EL The Hague (The Netherlands)
E-mail: a.debock@princeclausfund.nl