The Multidimensional Role of Cultural Heritage in Peace Operations

In the second sequence of the film “Timbuktu” of Abderrahmane Sissako, jihadists shoot on Dogon’s statuettes in the context of a military training. This sequence can be interpreted as a symbol of the changing nature of armed conflicts (which are no longer based on territory but on social and identity parameters and become more and more intra-state than inter-state), which call for an integration of cultural heritage in the mandate of peace operations (in a similar way to gender, environment etc.). By overwhelming the case of MINUSMA in Mali (which is acknowledged as the first case of integration of cultural heritage in the mandate of a peace operation) and the case of UNOCI in Ivory Coast, we will examine the transformation of cultural heritage from target of war to driving force of peace before (peacemaking), during (peacekeeping) and after (peacebuilding) the conflicts.