The heritage we take with us

The war in Ukraine and the global crisis highlighted the fragility of human life and the vulnerability of cultural practices in conditions of enforced internal and external replacement. Under the pressure of extreme circumstances, people who have to leave their homes take the most dearest with them, including that gives them strength, self-esteem, feeling of individuality – their living heritage. How and if even possible to preserve this “replaced” heritage in the new environment, in what way to support its bearers, with which instruments to secure its resilience? These and other questions were discussed at the roundtable How to protect cultural rights in motion? Safeguarding intangible cultural heritage amid displacement and migration, which took place on 27 April 2026, in Iasi, Romania. 
Participant reviewed projects, including international supported by UNESCO, that contributed to safeguarding of the living heritage of replaced communities in Ukraine and Romania, demonstrated the best practices in this area in Ukraine, Romania, Australia, Italy, Portugal, raised a number of important issues related to legislative and political tools for ensuring the rights to cultural heritage.

Organizers of the round table: Romanian Academy, Iași Branch, Development Centre “Democracy through Culture” (Kyiv, Ukraine), Institute for Cultural Research at the National Academy of Arts of Ukraine, Erasmus+Cravt team.  

Organization Committee: dr. Ioana Baskerville, scientific researcher, the Institute of Romanian Philology “Alexandru Philippide”; Oleksandr Butsenko, national focal point of 2003 Convention in Ukraine, senior researcher of the Institute for Cultural Research.