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From 26 to 28 March 2025, UNESCO organized in Villa Ocampo (Buenos Aires, Argentina) a South America regional workshop aimed at strengthening the protection of cultural property within the framework of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two (1954 and 1999) Protocols. This workshop was enabled by the financial support of the government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. 

Around 40 civilian and military participants, from 10 Latin America countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Uruguay), gathered in this UNESCO cultural site to address the challenges and strategies for safeguarding cultural heritage against emergencies, and in particular armed conflicts. 

Aiming to foster a collaborative environment where participants can share knowledge, exchange ideas, and build networks that will support ongoing efforts to protect cultural heritage, the event contributed to advancing the implementation of these normative instruments and strengthening civil-military cooperation for cultural property protection, in the framework of the newly launched UNESCO Civil-military alliance for the protection of cultural property. 

This three-day workshop began with theoretical sessions, notably on the history of the protection of cultural property worldwide and in Latin America specifically, on International Humanitarian Law and military legal obligations, on the inscription and marking of cultural property, together with more interactive panel discussions on civil-military cooperation and completed by a practical in-class exercise based on a fictional scenario.

On the third day, the participants had the opportunity to take part of a real-scale emergency drill at the Argentinean Federal Police Museum organized by the Argentinian Blue Helmets for Culture. 

During this exercise, they were assigned specific roles for the evacuation of the property during fire emergencies. Key priorities included establishing a repository to systematically document critical information of cultural objects and developing protocols to coordinate with other partners, firefighting personnel in this case, ensuring swift implementation of protective measures. 

A visit was also organized to the headquarters of Interpol, a section of which is dedicated to the protection of cultural property and the prevention of its theft and illicit trafficking. South American countries are one of the groups with the highest ratification rate of the 1954 Hage Convention and its two (1954 and 1999) Protocols. 

This workshop highlighted the protection of cultural heritage necessitates not only universal ratification of these legislative instruments, but also their robust implementation in both peacetime and armed conflicts.