A/HRC/31/59 73. A critical, related question concerns the protection of the defenders of cultural heritage who are at risk, such as those who have curated, preserved and protected the National Museum of Afghanistan through decades of war and worked tirelessly to reconstruct the damaged pieces that could be saved. They include cultural heritage professionals, such as contemporary figures like Khaled al-Asaad, the Syrian archaeologist who died defending Palmyra in August 2015 and many others who today labour in obscurity and danger, and also historical figures, such as the heroic staff of the Hermitage Museum in what is now Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, who risked their lives between 1941 and 1944 so that invaluable collection would be, as one expert phrased it, saved for humanity.28 Such figures may include ordinary people like those in Northern Mali who reportedly hid manuscripts beneath the floorboards of their homes to protect them during the 2012 occupation or those who sought to peacefully protest the destruction of Sufi sites in Libya despite intimidation. 74. A human rights perspective on the protection of cultural heritage must emphasize the human rights of cultural first responders – those on the frontlines in the struggle to protect it. They are the guardians of the cultural heritage of local groups, and indeed of all humankind, and thus critical players in the defence of cultural rights. They often put their safety and that of their families on the line to carry out this work. States must respect their rights and ensure their safety and security, but also provide them, including through international cooperation, with the conditions necessary to complete their work, including all needed material and technical assistance, and offer them asylum when that work becomes too dangerous. 75. The Special Rapporteur believes that, in many circumstances, defenders of cultural heritage should be recognized as cultural rights defenders and therefore as human rights defenders and that they should be afforded the rights and protections that status entails. As the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has noted, to be a human rights defender, a person can act to address any human right (or rights) on behalf of individuals or groups.29 76. In the destruction of heritage and in its protection, new media is a game changer, capable of magnifying the impact of the initial destructive acts, but also of enhancing the means to mitigate the damage caused, such as through digitization. These tools should be widely made available to cultural heritage professionals. 77. Experts have emphasized that there is a significant overlap between tangible and intangible heritage. As mentioned above, attacks on tangible and intangible cultural heritage are interconnected. A human rights approach assists in making these connections. For example, when mausoleums and ancient Islamic manuscripts were being destroyed by armed groups in northern Mali, various forms of cultural practice were also under attack, including religious practices, singing and music. Local populations were greatly affected, in an integrated way, by assaults on both forms of cultural heritage. Meanwhile, ancient languages and religious practices, tied to sacred spaces and structures and cultural landscapes of northern Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic, are being lost as the populations are displaced and objects, texts and historic structures are destroyed. 78. Another contribution of the human rights approach is its emphasis on accountability and combating impunity. The Special Rapporteur has been closely watching developments in the groundbreaking case of Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi in the International 28 29 Sergey Varshavsky and Boris Rest, Saved For Humanity: The Hermitage during the Siege of Leningrad 1941-1944 (Aurora Art Publishers, 1985) (originally in Russian). See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/SRHRDefenders/Pages/Defender.aspx. 17