UNESCO Letter to British Government for return of Parthenon Sculptures

In a pivotal moment for the reinforcement of efforts for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures, an international deliberation of the individual committees is held  on Sunday, Oct. 6 in Athens. 

If the British side agrees to participate this process, it will be the first time that UNESCO will have taken action to solve a cultural dispute between two European member states [Credit: TANN]

UNESCO has sent a letter to the British Foreign Secretary, informing him of Greece’s request for the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

During the meeting of Minister of Culture & Sports Mr. Panos Panagiotopoulos with the General Director of  UNESCO in Paris in July, Mrs. Irina Bokova was asked  to influence from personal and institutional position, in order to initiate the mediation process with the British side. 

UNESCO, as international cultural organization, wrote a letter to the British Foreign Minister William Chag , the British Minister for Culture Ms Maria Miller and the Director of the British Museum Mr. Robert Neil McGregor. 

In this letter the British officials were informed officially about the request of the Greek side to proceed to the process of mediation in order to reach a settlement on the issue of Parthenon Sculptures.

If the British side agree to conduct this process, it will be the first time that UNESCO will enable this institution to resolve cultural differences between two countries. 

The issue of the Parthenon Sculptures has, since 1987, steadily been in the agenda of any conference of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or repatriation in case of illegal possessions. 

Under these conditions , the International committee meetings to be held next Sunday at the Acropolis Museum acquires major importance .

Source: IEMC-UNESCO [October 03, 2013]