A/HRC/37/29 were vulnerable to exploitation by others. Many Governments allowed private developments on indigenous lands without the consent of the peoples concerned. Land dispossession, eviction and natural resource exploitation often threatened indigenous cultural practices. She called on States to harmonize domestic law and practice with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Ms. Carpenter also condemned the extraction and transfer of indigenous peoples’ human remains and religious objects to institutions in other parts of the world. 62. The author of a written submission noted that for development to be undertaken in an environmentally and culturally sustainable way and without posing a threat to cultural heritage, planning processes must be informed and controlled through appropriate legislation and through transparent and public assignment of the roles and responsibilities of all stakeholders. 63. A participant recalled the work of the open-ended intergovernmental working group on a draft United Nations declaration on the rights of peasants and other people working in rural areas, and pointed to a draft article on “cultural rights and traditional knowledge”. Peasants and persons working in rural areas had the right to enjoy their culture and to preserve, protect and develop their traditional knowledge as a way of life. Mr. Mancisidor noted that the draft declaration could provide opportunities to advance the right to free, prior and informed consent of peasants and indigenous peoples in the management of, enjoyment of and participation in heritage. C. National experiences 64. The representative of Armenia indicated that the destruction of cultural masterpieces was an attempt to erase memory and destroy cultures and civilizations, and recalled the destruction of the Mosul museum, the Bamiyan Buddha, the mausoleums of Timbuktu and the thousands of medieval Armenian cross stones in Nakhijevan. Such manifestations of intolerance and extremism should be strongly condemned and punished. 65. The representative of the Technical Committee on Cultural Heritage in Cyprus reported that the Committee had been established to protect the cultural heritage that is valued by both communities living in Cyprus. It provided a bicommunal platform for cooperation and dialogue which defied the north-south divide. The Committee could be seen as an emerging model of how two communities had come to appreciate their common interest in their cultural heritage in a way that could inspire actors in areas where tensions persisted. 66. The representative of RASHID International commended the Iraqi and other armed forces active in Iraq for having consulted about heritage sites to be avoided as targets. It encouraged Iraq’s efforts to re-establish a system of centrally paid site guards and to establish a national Blue Shield committee. He urged the coordination of international efforts to assist Iraq following the liberation of territory from Daesh to survey and digitally document cultural heritage, collect evidence for possible prosecution and provide conservation aid. The United Nations, including UNESCO and OHCHR, should lead those efforts. He further stressed the need for a thorough review of school curricula in Iraq to strengthen cross-cultural understanding and engagement, and urged the international community to provide capacity-building and training. 67. In a written submission concerning the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic, it was noted that often monuments that appear to be “minor” in the eyes of outsiders acted as the glue that kept a community together. The emotional and spiritual attachment to such sites, especially for people forcibly displaced and wishing to return, had often been overlooked when discussing the protection of cultural heritage. It was stressed that while the world would rightly mourn the destruction of Palmyra, the destruction of countless other monuments of great significance to Syrians must not be forgotten and must be included in criminal charges. 10