World War One cemeteries in Belgium and France, the hills of Rwanda's 1994 genocide and a former torture center in Argentina have been declared UNESCO World Heritage sites as the UN agency ends a moratorium on memorial sites for human suffering.
So far, the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland and the Hiroshima Peace Memorial in Japan have been the only memorial sites inscribed on the United Nation's cultural agency's closely watched World Heritage list.
"The examination of these three dossiers marks a new stage in the role of World Heritage on a global scale," a UNESCO briefing note said ahead of the decision. The agency said member states agreed in early 2023 that these sites can play a key role in peace-building, which is UNESCO's primary purpose, and that the committee would consider the nominations of the three sites.
"At a time when war has come back to the gates of Europe...these sites more than ever incarnate a plea for peace," French Culture Minister Rima Abdul-Malak said in a statement.