CER Conference: Culture is A Basic Need, Responding to Cultural Emergencies

On 25 and 26 September 2006, I participated in an international conference organized by the Prince Claus Fund "Culture is a Basic Need: Responding to Cultural Emergencies" in de Koninklijke Schouwburg Korte Voorhout 3 2511 CW The Hague The Netherlands.

As has been explained in the home page of the Prince Claus Fund, this conference was held as a part of the Fund’s Cultural Emergency Response (CER) program and the 'Here' campaign of the Dutch National Postal Code Lottery.

A public lecture was held on 25 September where Jan Pronk, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Sudan, and Margareta Wahlström, the UN Assistant Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, were invited to speak on the importance of culture and its salvaging in humanitarian emergency situations.

In this conference, I, on behalf of PPIM UIN Jakarta, delivered a keynote lecture on our experiences of implementing cultural emergency relief actions after Earthquake and Tsunami in Dayah Tanoh Abee Aceh. What lessons can be learned? Why is it so essential to emphasise and rescue culture following a large-scale humanitarian disaster such as the tsunami?

Click here to read the abstract of my keynote lecture...