Cecilia Cavero Sánchez

HISTORY 103H: Humanitarians in Africa

RESPONSE PAPER

This week’s readings on Universal Heritage and Cultural Rescue in Emergency paint a very
diverse view of the events that took place in Mali in 2012 and their wider relevance for the concept
of world heritage. In Crimes against cultural heritage in Timbuktu, Charlotte Joy explains how
north Mali’s ancient manuscripts were allegedly destroyed by radicals in 2012, and how many of
the treasures were dispersed around the world before that as they were perceived to be in danger.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, Timbuktu was the cultural center of West Africa. Its ancient
manuscripts and other cultural objects were placed in the UNESCO World Heritage list in 1988 as
having Outstanding Universal Value. After the 2012 destruction took place, mosques and other
destroyed ancient treasures have been restored. International jurisprudence dictates that war
criminals can be tried for destructive acts against cultural heritage, legislation that could be applied
to Timbuktu. However, this situation raises a couple of important questions. Timbuktu suffers from
extreme poverty, which renders people unable to pay for the upkeep of the manuscripts and
mosques. All the attention given to the cultural heritage is perceived as more important than
people’s economic marginality. Their basic needs are ignored, and the destruction of things is
compared to that of people. This situation is in conflict with human rights and dignity.

Moreover, as Hall explains, in the post-Shongay period Timbuktu was probably not as influential
in West Africa: Mauritania was the most relevant cultural hub. Even though Timbuktu still had an
active intellectual scene, the only reason why its cultural heritage has been protected as much is
the elites’ mastering of the language of culture as universal, as well as their disproportionate access
to resources. In fact, English states that, due to all the protection around Timbuktu, many of the
manuscripts were smuggled away (mainly by Abdel Kader Haidara) before the invasion. Money
was raised to relocate the manuscripts, which ended up in Bamako. This is found suspicious by
experts, as the alleged number of smuggled manuscripts is larger than the total quantity estimated
to have been stored in Timbuktu. Regardless of how this event actually unfolded, the most
important point for the sake of this argument is that the money that was raised depended on a
misrepresentation of the materials and the importance of the manuscripts. As I understand it,
manuscripts that are probably less valuable than stated by their protectors were deemed more
relevant than ensuring people’s safety when radicals invaded north Mali in 2012.

Alternatively, Jedanka Petrovic adds another layer to this discussion by explaining how, in her
view, the right for cultural property is a basic human right and should be protected more firmly:
since cultural patrimony belongs to and concerns all humankind, its universal value transcends
state borders. According to her, the international community has a responsibility to intervene to
protect that heritage in the case of massive violations when the state it belongs to is unwilling or
unable to do so, even though she admits it would be better to prevent the crisis in the first place.
In my view, she fails to grasp the conceptual difference between the four crimes listed as worthy
of international intervention (genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity)
and cultural heritage destruction. While heritage is key to preserving local cultures and people
 Cecilia Cavero Sánchez
HISTORY 103H: Humanitarians in Africa
attach meaning to ancient traditions and places, there are other human rights that should be
protected and guaranteed more vehemently than cultural heritage, especially in a context where
the cultural heritage’s value is questioned. The fundraising system for preserving local cultures
should move away from private funding. Independent agencies that assess the general issues in
those sites in order to balance the best policies for the protection firstly of the integrity of human
life and secondly of the cultural heritage of local cultures should be established.