Five years after the establishment of the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH), Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture, and Thomas S. Kaplan, Chair of the Foundation, hosted the second ALIPH Donors’ Conference on 31 January at the musée du Louvre in Paris.

This meeting, opened by Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission, the Ministers of Culture of the United Arab Emirates, Noura Al Kaabi, and Saudi Arabia, Prince Badr bin Abdullah Al Saud, gathered delegates from some thirty countries, including a dozen European states, international organizations (UNESCO, ICOM, ICOMOS, etc. ) and private donors in the Khorsabad Courtyard, at the Louvre.

During this second conference, nearly USD 90 million was pledged, superseding the USD 77.5 million that was committed during the first Donors’ Conference in March 2017. This new round of funding will give ALIPH the capacity to amplify its action over the next five years. The agility and responsiveness of ALIPH – which has supported since 2018 nearly 150 cultural heritage protection projects in some 30 countries, on four continents, particularly in Iraq, Mali, Afghanistan, Yemen, and North-East Syria – were praised during the event.

ALIPH’s initial supporters – States (France, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Luxembourg, China, Morocco, and Switzerland) and private donors (Thomas S. Kaplan, Fondation Gandur pour l’Art, and Andrew W.Mellon Foundation) – were also joined by the TotalEnergies Foundation.

Several countries present at the Conference pledged their political support to ALIPH, with the potential for financial contributions to follow in the coming months.

“ALIPH is the pursuit of a new kind of multilateralism of action and results, agile and responsive, directly in the field.” Jean-Yves Le Drian, Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs.

"I am delighted by the strong international mobilization that has been expressed today in favor of heritage preservation in conflict and post-conflict areas. It testifies to our collective commitment to the protection of heritage, which is our common good. This conference was a decisive step that will allow ALIPH to anchor its mission in the long term, in collaboration with all its institutional, technical and scientific partners." Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, Minister of Culture.

“With considerable new financial and political support, the Foundation looks to the future with confidence, ambition, and an unchanged obsession: to support those who, every day and often at the risk of their own lives, protect and rehabilitate this common memory that constitutes humanity’s cultural heritage.” Thomas S. Kaplan, Chair of the ALIPH Foundation Board.

ALIPH was created in March 2017 in Geneva at the initiative of France and the United Arab Emirates in response to the massive destruction of cultural heritage in recent years in the Sahel region or in the Middle East. In five years, ALIPH has become a central player in this area.