A/71/317 does not obviate human rights obligations. Any other result would eviscerate human rights protection at the time that it is most needed and could sanitize the massive destruction of cultural heritage. This means that States should give careful, principled policy consideration to impacts on cultural heritage and cultural rights when contemplating or engaging in conflicts, which would entail their advancing beyond the view that operational and technical decisions in this reg ard can be made on a case-by-case basis alone. This would require planning and expertise while demonstrating true commitment to culture. 67. The Special Rapporteur understands that as military commanders may need to act to save the lives of their troops or the lives of civilians, this may constrain their choices, since the protection of human beings is the most fundamental human rights concern of all. However, while the showing of respect for the cultural heritage of the population constitutes first and foremost a positive contribution to human rights, it can also help ensure the protection of troops in the long term by ameliorating relationships with local populations and keeping to a minimum the anger directed against them, especially in situations that result in occupation. 53 C. Defenders of cultural heritage 68. A critical dimension of the human rights approach to cultural heritage, which currently receives insufficient attention, is the protection of the defenders of cultural heritage who are at risk. They include cultural heritage professionals, such as contemporary figures like Khaled al-Asaad, the Syrian archaeologist who died defending Palmyra in August 2015, along with many others who today labour in obscurity and in conditions of danger, as well as ordinary people like the women in Northern Africa whom the Special Rapporteur observed sleeping inside a mausoleum that had been attacked in order to safeguard it. 69. The Special Rapporteur salutes these “heritage heroes”, as they have been called by UNESCO, and pays particular tribute to all those who have laid down their lives to preserve humanity’s cultural heritage. The persons commemorated below are but a few of those about whom she has received reports: • Anas Radwan, an architect based in Aleppo, who, in 2013, established and led the Syrian Association for Preservation of Archaeology and Heritage team, was killed in April 2014, reportedly by a barrel bomb employed by the Government, while documenting damage to monuments in the Old City of Aleppo. 54 • Samira Saleh al-Naimi, an Iraqi lawyer, was abducted and tortured by Da’esh in September 2014, shortly after having posted denunciations on Facebook of the group’s destructions of religious and cultural sites in Mosul. 55 __________________ 53 54 55 16-13742 Peter Stone, “The challenge of protecting heritage in times of armed conflict”, MUSEUM International, vol. 68, Nos. 1-4 (2016). Tim Slade, The Destruction of Memory (Vast Productions, 2016), film based on Bevan, The Destruction of Memory: Architecture at War. See footnote 16. Based on United Nations Iraq, “UN envoy condemns public execution of human rights lawyer, Ms. Sameera Al-Nuaimy”, 25 September 2014. Available at www.uniraq.org/index.php?option= com_k2&view=item&id=2674:un-envoy-condemns-public-execution-of-human-rights-lawyerms-sameera-al-nuaimy&Itemid=605&lang=en. 19/24