The World Heritage Committee of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is expected to unveil new World Heritage sites at the 43rd session in Baku, Azerbaijan, which began this week.

Iraq is in a state of waiting and waiting for the outcome of the decisions of UNESCO on a request by Baghdad since 2010 to include the ancient city of Babylon to the list of world heritage, and seeks activists interested in Iraqi heritage and monuments to support that endeavor on social networking sites.

The Speaker of the Iraqi Council of Representatives Mohammed Halbousi sent a letter to the heads of Arab and foreign delegations gathered at the UNESCO Conference in the Azerbaijani capital in the hope of supporting Iraqi efforts to put the city of Babylon within the list of world heritage.

The protection of the ruins of Iraq and the historic city of Babylon is the responsibility of the free world, he said, adding that voting for the inclusion of Babylon in the World Heritage List is a protection of human heritage.

The Babylonian ruins represent the Babylonian civilization that passed through many of the ruling dynasties, which lasted from 1880 BC to 500 BC. Its most prominent ruler was Hammurabi and King Nebuchadnezzar, the most important of which were the Hanging Gardens, Hammurabi Tower, the Tower of Babel, the Lion of Babylon and the Ishtar Gate.

Babylonian civilization is the greatness of the human mind. More than 7,000 years ago, art, thought, architecture, law and law were completed. Babylon and its outstanding gardens are the lesson of history, voted at the UNESCO Conference in Baku as part of the World Heritage List for the protection of human heritage.

Nomination and anticipation 

The 2019 nominations are followed by a long-term evaluation, in which field experts are sent to verify candidate destinations, assess what is being done to maintain them, and re-filter sites that are not selected in subsequent years.

The UNESCO Twitter Account will announce the new options at the next session, which will conclude by July 10. Participants in Azerbaijan will also take a look at the state of conservation of the World Heritage List at risk.

The sites of UNESCO - which began in 1978 - include famous destinations such as Taj Mahal in India and Petra in Jordan and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador and the Tower of Pisa Italic in Italy.

"All Iraqis, including those interested in the Iraqi civilizations, have a date from today and the coming days with the announcement of the inclusion of Babylon in the list of world heritage in the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

The 2019 nominations were divided into different categories, including natural sites such as Iceland's Fatnakkol National Park, cultural sites such as Babel in Iraq, and mixed sites combining natural and cultural elements such as the city of Parati, Brazil.

Adam Markham, deputy executive director of the agency said that sites of great natural and cultural significance will enter this classification, and is expected to be Babylon of Iraq.

UNESCO's discussions are witnessing a growing debate on climate change issues. Experts fear climate change could lead to weather events, drought and forest fires that are damaging to existing World Heritage sites, particularly those known for their diverse nature.

In January 2019, the United States withdrew from UNESCO on the grounds that the organization was hostile to Israel because it granted full membership to Palestine and identified sites of Palestinian heritage that Israel considers its own Jewish sites.

Terms of the UNESCO List 

The police command of Babil province (southern Iraq) revealed the fulfillment of one of the conditions of the UNESCO to secure the ancient city of Babylon, and away from militarization, in coordination with the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Antiquities.

UNESCO's World Heritage Site was launched through the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, and 189 countries ratified it. Through this agreement, sites included in this program receive financial assistance under certain conditions.

There are ten criteria for candidate sites; they have to be of "exceptional global value", or are an outstanding example of a particular architectural quality, or represent a unique testimony to a cultural tradition of an existing or scattered civilization.

PUKmedia \ tellerreport