Archive for juuni, 2020

ICOMOS Training Course “Heritage Communities and Human Rights”, 2.- 5.09.2020, Estonia

ICOMOS „Our Common Dignity“ Working Group is honored to invite heritage experts, community leaders, and graduate students from Europe and around the world to training course „Heritage Communities and Human Rights“ which will be held 2.-5.09.2020 in Estonia and internet.

The training course „Heritage Communities and Human Rights“ focuses on community-based heritage protection and the theory and application of human rights-based approaches in the heritage field. The course combines theoretical approaches with learning from practice involving field visits in Estonia as well as an exchange among participants. The course lecturers will provide an introduction to international human rights law that specifically relates to culture, heritage, and communities. In addition to providing basic knowledge about human rights and the UN, UNESCO and IUCN systems and practices, this course will discuss focus cases of heritage management and rights in protected heritage areas in different countries. 

The training course on rights-based approaches is led by Dr. Peter Bille Larsen, the University of Geneva, and Dr. Stener Ekern, Oslo University. Thematic modules will be introduced and moderated by Bente Mathisen, Riin Alatalu, and Ave Paulus (ICOMOS “Our Common Dignity” working group). ICCROM is represented by Rohit Jigyasu and Eugene Jo, IUCN by Tim Badman.

The global pandemic is forcing us to digitalize the course and we have to plan accordingly. For the sake of effective training, we will adjust format and agendas so that all events will be accessible regardless of the presence in Estonia and time zones of the participants. The course will be divided into 5-hour daily joint zoom sessions, starting at 12 noon Paris time. In addition, there will be individual homework in the form of case material, which we will share and read before and after sessions. The joint sessions will include lectures, individual or group presentations, and, most of all, group and plenary discussions. We expect you to participate actively, in-person in Estonia or with video and audio, so that we can benefit from our collective presence and creativity. Short morning fieldwork visits will be recorded in video and made available on the web during the sessions.

Training Course time frame: 2.09-5.09

EVERY DAY in ESTONIA and in ZOOM

NB!! Paris Time

9.00-12.00 fieldwork (video summary in the web)

12.00-14.00 Lectures, discussion

15.00-17/18.00 Case studies, discussion

Detailed Schedule of the Course:

Wednesday, 2.09 Human rights and heritage. Memory sites

Moderators of the day – Riin Alatalu, Stener Ekern

10-12 Welcome Brunch

12.00-14.00 Introductory Session

Estonian Academy of Arts A-301/ 

12-12.30 Welcome words by Bente Mathisen. Short introduction of the participants

12.30-14.00 Introductory Lecture. Human Rights, Culture and Community Formation, Heritage. An Introduction to Human Rights-based Thinking. – Stener Ekern (Norway)

15.00-18.00 Introduction and Case studies of ‘memory sites’ or ‘historical monuments’. Estonian Academy of Arts A-301/ 

15-16.30 Introductory Lecture. Human rights and heritage, lessons from rights-based approaches. Peter Bille Larsen.

16.30-16.45 Utøya, Norway. – Bente Mathiesen (Norway)

16.45-17.00 Te Pōrere, New Zealand. – Paulette Wallace (Germany).

17.00-18.00 Discussion moderated by Stener Ekern

Thursday, 3.09 Urban heritage and tourism. The balance between tourism expectations and community rights

Moderators of the day – Triin Talk, Riin Alatalu

10-12 Field visit – walk with community representatives in Tallinn Old Town. Start at Kalev Spa

12.00-14.00 Urban Heritage and Tourism 

12.00 Lecture by Rohit Jigyasu

12.30 Lecture by Claudio Milano

13.00 Case study: Overtourism in Tallinn Old Town. – Triin Talk (Estonia)

13.20 Case study: Social Interaction in Historic Quarter of Rashid. – Mohamed Amer (Egypt)

13.40 Case study: Mean(ing)s of heritage: processes of marginalization of urban zones and the aspects of (experimental) preservation. – Sanja Zadro (Bosnia-Herzegovina)

14.00 Break

15.00-18.00 Urban Heritage and Tourism 

Estonian Academy of Arts A-301/ 

15.00 Case study: Kuldiga Old Town in the primeval valley of the river Venta. – Jana Jakobsone (Latvia)

15.20 Case study: Pampulha-Belo Horizonte. – Laura Lage (Brazil)

15.40 Case study: Urban Conservation areas in Estonia. – Kaarel Truu (Estonia)

16.00 Discussion

Friday, 4.09 Cultural landscapes, protected areas and heritage community rights

Moderators of the day – Ave Paulus, Peter Larsen

10-12 Field visit – learning from the communities of Lahemaa National Park: traditional fishing, Hara Harbour

12-14 Heritage Communities Rights and Cultural Landscapes

Cat Arthur Cinema Hall, Tapurla village, Lahemaa NP 

12.00-12.20 Peter Larsen, Some further thoughts on RBA and customary rights in a protected area context 

12.20-13.00 Tim Badman (UK). IUCN evaluations of World Heritage nominations, community and rights issues: recent developments and lessons learned 

13.00-14.00 Ave Paulus, Artur Talvik and Peter Larsen. Traditional livelihoods, values, and connected rights: Lahemaa NP fisheries research and international perspective 

15-18 International case-studies on the challenges of heritage communities, customary rights, and traditional cultural practices. 

Cat Arthur Cinema Hall, Tapurla village, Lahemaa NP 

15.00-15.20 Claudia Uribe Chinen (Peru). Participatory approaches to archaeological heritage management in the Qhapaq Ñan Andean Road System: Transformative processes or old conundrums in communities’ cultural heritage rights?

15.20 -15.40 Diana Cowie (Australia). An Initiative to Increase First Nations Cultural Heirtage in Statutory Heritage Listings.

15.40-16.00 Shubham Shrivastava (India).  Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR): Exploring the impact ofintroduction ofbuffer zone on existing relationship between the local community and DHR

16.00-16.20 Hala Asslan (Syria). Syrian War: Women Rights &Cultural heritage in rural landscape

Neel Kamal Chapagain (Nepal). World Heritage Nomination from Community Perspective: A Case of Lomanthang, Nepal

16.20-16.40 Saara Mildeberg (Estonia). Landscape-Base Approach to Rural Stakeholders based on the Case Study of Soomaa National Park

16.40-17.00 Ancient and Primeval Beech Forests of the Carpathians

17.00-18.00 Discussion moderated by Peter Larsen

Saturday, 5.09 Institutional Panel on Human Rights and Heritage Communities

Moderators of the day – Bente Mathisen, Peter Larsen, Stener Ekern

12-14 Rethinking rights issues in different heritage contexts – intangible aspects. Representatives of IUCN, ICCROM, ICOMOS

Estonian Academy of Arts A-301/ 

12.-12.40 Lecture on People-Centered Approaches for Heritage Conservation and Management: Challenges and Opportunities by Eugene Jo (ICCROM) 

12.40-14.00 Rethinking rights issues in different heritage contexts – intangible aspects. Representatives of IUCN, ICCROM, ICOMOS.

In the dialogue:, Tim Badman, Rohit Jigyasu, Bente Mathisen, Peter Bille Larsen, Stener Ekern, Riin Alatalu, Ave Paulus et al

15-17 Synthesis and Conclusions

Participant Panel on rights issues in heritage: regional issues – local solutions?

Estonian Academy of Arts A-301/ 

5 participants from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East (tbc)

Conclusions, ways forward and next steps: Bente Mathisen, ICOMOS Working Group

Information for those arriving in Estonia:

Travel rules in COVID time: https://vm.ee/en/information-countries-and-self-isolation-requirements-passengers

Kalev Spa Hotel, reserved from 2.-5.09 https://www.kalevspa.ee/en/home/

Estonian Academy of Arts https://www.artun.ee/en/home/

Lahemaa National Park  https://kaitsealad.ee/en/protected-areas/lahemaa-national-park   

Old Town of Tallinn https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/822/ 

Tallinn Airport https://www.tallinn-airport.ee/en/transport/leaving-the-airport/

You are most welcome!

Ave Paulus, Riin Alatalu, Bente Mathisen

ICOMOS International Working Group “Our Common Dignity“

Additional information: estonia.icomos.org ave.paulus@artun.ee

Supporters: Nordic Council of Ministers, Estonian Academy of Arts, National Heritage Board of Estonia, Juminda Peninsula Society, Lahemaa NP Cooperation Council12-14 Lecture on People Centered Approaches for Heritage Conservation and Management: Challenges and Opportunities by Eugene Jo (ICCROM)

Stener Ekern is a professor in anthropology at the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights (NCHR) at the Faculty of Law at the University of Oslo. He has done fieldwork in Nicaragua (1984) and Guatemala (2000 and ongoing) with a thematic focus on indigenous peoples, human rights, and legal pluralism. Additionally, he has worked with human rights and world heritage and transitional justice. At the NCHR he is responsible for several master courses in human rights and has also elaborated a course in human rights and world heritage in cooperation with ICOMOS Norway. Before becoming a university researcher in 1997, he worked as a program officer in Norwegian development cooperation. 

Riin Alatalu is an associate professor of heritage conservation and restoration in Estonian Academy of Arts. She has a PhD in heritage conservation and restoration (“Heritage in Transitional Society from Nation’s Conscience in the Estonian SSR into the Harasser of the private Owner in the Republic of Estonia, 2012).  Alatalu has worked in National Heritage Board, Tallinn Culture and Heritage Department and Estonian Ministry of Culture on leading positions taking care of supervision and promotion of heritage and she has been in charge of important international programs. She is the member of the Board of ICOMOS International and president of ICOMOS Estonia, member of Rights-Based Approaches working group, CIVVIH and former vice-president of ICLAFI. She is the chairperson of Estonian Heritage Advisory Panel.

Ave Paulus has master’s degrees from the Estonian Academy of Arts (heritage conservation and restoration) and Tartu University (semiotics and theory of culture). Her doctoral thesis in Tartu University proposes a heritage protection model, based on heritage community values and rights, Tartu-Moscow Cultural Semiotics and Rights-Based Approaches. She is a member of the ICOMOS Estonia, ICOMOS International Scientific Committees on Cultural Landscapes and Legal and Administrative Issues, Rights-Based Approach and Climate Change working groups. She is a specialist for cultural heritage issues in the Environmental Board of Estonia, Council member of Virumaa Museums, spokesperson of the intangible heritage of the Folk Culture Centre, Board member of Lahemaa and Alutaguse National Park Cooperation Councils. She has coordinated cooperation between heritage communities, state and universities in several development projects concerning heritage management.

Rohit Jigyasu is a conservation architect and risk management professional from India, currently working at ICCROM as Project Manager on Urban Heritage, Climate Change and Disaster Risk Management. Rohit served as UNESCO Chair holder professor at the Institute for Disaster Mitigation of Urban Cultural Heritage at Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto, Japan, where he was instrumental in developing and teaching International Training Course on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage. He was the elected President of ICOMOS-India from 2014-2018 and president of ICOMOS International Scientific Committee on Risk Preparedness (ICORP) from 2010-2019. Rohit has been the Elected Member of the Executive Committee of ICOMOS since 2011 and is currently serving as its Vice President for the period 2017-2020.  Before joining ICCROM, Rohit has been working with several national and international organizations such as UNESCO, UNISDR, Getty Conservation Institute and World Bank for consultancy, research and training on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage.

Bente Mathisen is a Norwegian chartered architect MNAL who works as a cultural heritage manager and advisor at Statsbygg, Norway’s Public Construction Department, Culture and Ministry affairs. She has been director and deputy director for the Heritage Management Office of the World Heritage (WH) City of Bergen Norway, Director for the Management Office of Cidade Velha Republic of Cape Verde, and partner at the Architect group CUBUS, Bergen Norway. She is a board member of Foundation Bryggen, World Heritage site. She coordinated for 10 years the Eastern African City-to-City network between the WH cities of Bergen Lamu, Zanzibar and Ilha. She has been a Board member of ICOMOS Norway and is currently the focal point of the Our Common Dignity Initiative- Rights Based Approaches working group.

Tim Badman is the Director of IUCN’s newly established Nature-Culture Initiative, formerly Director of IUCN’s World Heritage Programme. He has been senior IUCN spokesperson on World Heritage, chair of the IUCN World Heritage Panel and Head of IUCN’s delegation at World Heritage Committee meetings since 2007. As of April 2019, Tim leads IUCN’s work in developing closer links between the Nature and Culture sectors, including through the World Heritage Leadership Programme jointly run by ICCROM and IUCN with support from Norway. Tim joined IUCN having worked as team leader of the Dorset and East Devon Coast World Heritage Site, UK. This role culminated in inscription of the site on the World Heritage List in 2001, and the subsequent development of the World Heritage programme on-site. He has been involved in many World Heritage site evaluation and monitoring issues globally. Tim also speaks for IUCN on the special challenges of conserving geological sites, including those sites that protect the most exceptional fossil remains of life on Earth


Claudia Hatsumi Uribe Chinen is a Peruvian archaeologist and scholar in heritage studies. Her professional work in the past 9 years has involved teaching assistance in Archaeology, archaeological research projects, consultancy on cultural resource management and research assistance in heritage conservation capacity-building programs. Claudia’s research interest s are generally concerned and critically engaged with uses of archaeological heritage in postcolonial contexts and approaches to ethics, sustainability and human rights in cultural heritage.

Claudio Milano is a social and cultural anthropologist with a background in economics and over 10 years of academic and industry experience. He is an international consultant in tourism development and urban planning, adjunct professor at the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Director of the Master’s program in Sustainable Tourism Destinations and Regional Tourism Planning at the Ostelea School Tourism Management, attached to the University of Lleida (Barcelona, Spain). Claudio is the Director of IDITUR Tourism Research Dissemination and Innovation Centre at Ostelea School of Tourism Management. Claudio holds a Ph.D. in Social and Cultural Anthropology and a Master in Social and Cultural Anthropology (Cultural Differences and Transnational Processes) both awarded by the Autonomous University of Barcelona (Spain).

Eugene Jo holds an MA in Cultural Heritage Studies, a BA in Korean History and is currently completing her PhD in World Heritage Studies at Konkuk University in Seoul. She joined ICCROM in 2017 as the Programme Coordinator for the joint IUCN/ICCROM World Heritage Leadership Programme. The World Heritage Programme aims to improve conservation and management practices for culture and nature through the work of the World Heritage Convention, as an integral component of the contribution of World Heritage Sites to sustainable development. The programme takes up a people-centred approach to conservation of nature and culture, with a focus on rights based approaches and addressing the issue of governance.

Hala Asslan has a Ph.D. from Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes (EPHE), Sorbonne, France, with honer. A consultant for the International Council of Monuments and Historic Sites (ICOMOS), UNESCO, and many other international organizations since 2010. She has varied professional and academic experience in the restoration and rehabilitation of historic buildings and sites in Syria, including World Heritage List sites such as Aleppo, Palmyra, Salah-Din Castle, Old Damascus, and Jerusalem. Serves as Co-President of Heritage Committee of the Central Syrian Architects & Engineers Syndicate. She Consultant with the Aga Khan Trust and the General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums in Syria (DGAM) for the restoration and rehabilitation of “Souk al-Saqatiyya” in the Old City of Aleppo, 2018.

Jana Jakobsone, Dr. arch., Director of the Construction Department of Kuldiga Municipality Council, the architect of the municipality (since 2005), Director of the Building Authority (since 2017), Chairperson of the Old Town and Environment Committee (since 2011), director of several urban environment development concepts and research. ICOMOS Latvia president (since 2013), CIVVIH expert member (since 2019). Practicing architect at the SIA Arho Office (from 2001 to 2005), certified practicing architect (since 2014). Lecturer (since 2014) and associate professor (since 2019) on the preservation of the cultural-historical heritage. Author of more than 40 scientific and popular scientific publications. Since 2018 Member of the National Architecture Council of the consultative body of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia.

Laura Beatriz Lage research interests focus on landscapes management, cultural heritage (tangible and intangible), architecture, and urban planning and environment. She is a post-doc student in UFMG and an ICOMOS member in the National Committee of Cultural Landscape in Brazil. She has been carrying research on “Landscape as a way to understand the world”, using Pampulha Settlement (Cultural Landscape designated by UNESCO) as study case. Currently is an executive secretary of the Cultural Landscape Committee in ICOMOS Brazil and contributed to a creation of a study group with a partnership between FMC and UFMG about HUL (Historic Urban Landscape).

Paulette Wallace has a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) History from the University of Otago and a Master of Museum and Heritage Studies from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. In 2015, she completed a Ph.D. at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. She has been Executive Officer for the Australian Convict Sites, a serial World Heritage Property with 11 sites located across Australia and more recently from 2018 as the Manager Heritage Assets responsible for 12 Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga properties located across the central North Island of New Zealand. Paulette is a member of ICOMOS Australia, Australian representative on the ISCCL from 2015-2018, a member of Our Common Dignity Initiative.

Sanja Zadro, Ph.D., independent researcher based in Zagreb (Croatia), a member of ICOMOS, Bosnia, and Herzegovina. Participated in the research project Croatia and Central Europe: Art and Politics in the Late Modern Period (1780-1945) funded by Croatian Science Foundation. Research topic: Vitality of disaster and reinventions of the ruin: Historic preservation (of the built environment) in Bosnia and Herzegovina today. Research interests in the domains of the experimental preservation, political aspects of design practice, participatory urban design, socio-spatial relations, urban sustainability, creative placemaking (microstructural), and critical heritage studies.

Information for those arriving to Estonia:

Travel rules in COVID time: https://vm.ee/en/information-countries-and-self-isolation-requirements-passengers

Kalev Spa Hotel, reserved from 2.-5.09 https://www.kalevspa.ee/en/home/

Estonian Academy of Arts https://www.artun.ee/en/home/

Lahemaa National Park https://kaitsealad.ee/…/protected-are…/lahemaa-national-park

Old Town of Tallinn https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/822/

Tallinn Airport https://www.tallinn-airport.ee/en/transport/leaving-the-airport/

You are most welcome!

Ave Paulus, Riin Alatalu, Bente Mathisen

ICOMOS International Working Group “Our Common Dignity“

Training course

Additional information: estonia.icomos.org ave.paulus@artun.ee

Supporters: Nordic Council of Ministers, Estonian Academy of Arts, National Heritage Board of Estonia, Juminda Peninsula Society, Lahemaa NP Cooperation Council

Toomas Tuul. Tallinn

Workshop on Rights-based approaches at the Interpret Europe conference

Interpret Europe – European Association for Heritage Interpretation organized an International Web Conference “Fostering Heritage Communities” in 8.-11.05.2020. A workshop on Rights-Based Approaches was provided by Ave Paulus and Riin Alatalu from ICOMOS Estonia. The presentation on the principles of the RBA and the importance of empowering the communities and respect for locals was complimented by several videos and received lively feedback from the experts working with the interpretation of the sites for the visitors.