The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has decided to set up a committee to consider its own role “in engaging with communities facing civil conflict and natural disaster,” the Architects’ Journal has reported.
The establishment of the International Committee Working Group is, in part, a face-saving measure that follows the RIBA’s controversial call to consider a boycott of its Israeli counterpart at the August meeting of the International Union of Architects’ (UIA) general assembly—a call that the UIA has rejected and that leading international architects opposed. The RIBA had sought the suspension of the Israeli Association of United Architects (IAUA) from the UIA “until it acts to resist projects on illegally-occupied land and observes international law and accords.”
Itzhak Lipovetzky-Lir, past president of the Israeli architects’ association and its coordinator of international relations, said in an interview that he was satisfied with the outcome. After the British group received the UIA’s rejection of its boycott call, he said, “the RIBA council decided not to discuss it anymore. It’s another way of retracting it. Instead, they decided to establish the committee, which is perfectly legitimate.”
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