Krista Pikkat is Director of Culture and Emergencies at UNESCO’s Culture sector.  In this capacity, she also serves as the Secretary of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols (1954, 1999), the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, and the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.

Previously, Krista has held positions at UNESCO Headquarters and the field (in Central Asia). She believes strongly that cultural heritage protection and the safeguarding of culture concerns us all, and we all have our role to play.