World Heritage Necessitates International Protection
Conflict, war, and looting are a threat to World Heritage Sites.
Examples of how physical representations of heritage can be lost include the looting that occurred after the fall of Sadam Hussein and during the Egyptian revolution. Most recently ISIS has made part of their mission the destruction of Syria’s and Iraq’s pre-Islamic heritage. The intentional destruction of a culture is an infringement on human rights and the intentional destruction of cultural heritage by armed groups should be prosecuted as a war crime. Destruction and looting of world heritage during war deprives the local population of a connection to their heritage and an economic resource, but it also deprives the international community of the universal values and interpretation of those cultural sites and objects.
There are international conventions whose purpose is to protect world heritage which include the 1954 Hague Convention and the 1972 UNESCO. Looting which causes great harm to world heritage is also addressed through international conventions.
Several examples of world heritage sites and programs show how international conventions are used to protect world heritage.
The Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of Bamiyan Valley are now on the World Heritage Danger List. Two standing Buddha statues were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Through UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention there is an Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage Safe Guarding Campaign which has the goal of safeguarding Afghan culture both tangible and intangible. The campaign takes the approach of reestablishing links between the local population and their heritage in order to encourage ownership and care of their heritage.
Hatra in Iraq was added to the World Heritage Danger list in July 2015 due to intentional damage by armed groups. The hope is that adding the site to the danger list will rally support to protect the site.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on “Saving the Cultural Heritage of Iraq” based on the idea that the intentional and strategic destruction of cultural heritage is a war crime. An UNESCO article about the resolution states that,
“The resolution contains a strong call to fight the impunity of perpetrators of attacks against cultural heritage and encourages all Member States to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to ensure that the intentional destruction of cultural heritage may be prosecuted as a war crime.”
A team of sixty Italians will be working with UNESCO to prevent looting at World Heritage Sites. The task force will be employed at sites where UNESCO is currently proving humanitarian aid to document the impact on the local heritage sites and prevent looting and illegal trafficking of cultural objects. The task force was created in February of this year, and the hope is that other countries that are rich in cultural resources and experience will follow suite. This agreement is a success of UNESCOs global coalition Unite for Heritage.
In UNESCOs press release about the Italian task force it is stated:
“ Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage may be considered a war crime. The reinforcement of UNESCO’s capacity to respond to current challenges builds on existing international legal instruments, notably the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and enhances the scope of their application.”
These examples show how international conventions and international law have function to protect world heritage. The basis of international conventions that protect world heritage is in the 1954 Hague Convention and the 1970 and 1972 UNESCO Conventions.
The 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions were some of the first statements on the laws of war and defining war crimes in international law. The 1954 Hague Convention has the purpose of preventing the destruction of cultural property during armed conflicts or military operations through the prevention of theft, pillage, and vandalism of physical heritage.
The convention was a response to the cultural destruction and looting during WWII. At UNESCO’s website, the Hague Convention contract the state parties sign on to can be found including the first and second protocols. The goal is for state parties to respect each other’s cultural property. The convention states that protected property should not be occupied by the military and hostility should not be directed towards such property. It also states that theft, pillage, and vandalism should be prevented. Each state party is also responsible for preparing in peace time to protect their cultural heritage in cases of armed conflict which includes marking protected sites with the blue shield symbol and creating an inventory of protected sites. The Blue Shield symbol marks cultural property that is protected by the Hague Convention. The convention also requires state parties to have cultural specialists within their armed forces to secure respect for cultural properties similar to the Monument’s Men of WWII.
The 1st Protocol of the 1954 Hague Conventions adds additional statements of agreement for the state parties. One agreement is that cultural property shall never be retained as war reparations and will be returned when hostility subsides. It also states that if a country has cultural property that may be in danger during armed conflict stored for safe keeping in another country that country must return the cultural property when the conflict ends.
The 2nd Protocol was added to the convention in 1999. The goal of this protocol is to strengthen and reaffirm the 1954 Hague Convention. As the agreement states its purpose is to
“Reaffirming the importance of the provisions of the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, done at the Hague on 14 May 1954, and emphasizing the necessity to supplement these provisions through measures to reinforce their implementation.”
It also seeks to reflect developments in international law since 1954.
The 1972 UNESCO Convention convention was concerned for how the loss of cultural or natural heritage impoverishes all nations. The agreement states that part of the purpose of the convention is to
“view of the magnitude and gravity of the new dangers threatening them(cultural and natural heritage), it is incumbent on the international community as a whole to participate in the protection of the cultural and natural heritage of outstanding universal value, by the granting of collective assistance which, although not taking the place of action by the State concerned, will serve as an efficient complement thereto”.
This quote shows how the convention functions to value cultural and natural heritage as having universal value justifying the idea that there is an international responsibility to protect. The convention provides collective assistance through grants and heritage management experience to aide the protection of sites.
The World Heritage Committee is created under article 8 of the convention and article 11 states that the committee shall determine from state party applications which properties shall be added to the World Heritage List based on their universal value. Publicizing the addition of a site to the danger list in need of conservation and better management serves to raise awareness. State parties may request international assistance through the convention. Articles 27 and 28 encourage that state parties educate and raise awareness among the public about the universal value of world heritage sites in the country’s territory and dangers to the sites. The 1972 UNESCO Convention and World Heritage Committee protects world heritage through international cooperation and collective assistance.
The 1970 UNESCO Convention aims to protect world heritage through preventing the looting of cultural property and mediating their repatriation.
This convention is concerned with the value of sharing knowledge between countries through the interchange of cultural property but also acknowledges cultural property is only fully valued alongside information about its origins which is lost through illicit importing and exporting. State parties are asked to recognize the cultural impoverishment that the illegal trade in antiquities causes and to take measures to prevent it and make necessary reparations. State parties of the convention are also required to have national services that protect their cultural property through several functions including an inventory of protected property whose export would impoverish the nations cultural heritage. Export certificates authorizing the export of cultural property is required under the convention. It also requires state parties to have national legislation that prevents cultural institutions from acquiring illegally exported cultural property from other state parties and to offer repatriation in such cases. As in the 1954 Hague Convention and 1972 UNESCO convention collective international assistance and cooperation is requested for countries that have sites that are at risk from looters. The illicit trade of cultural properties causes the loss of important provenance data of research and interpretive value and deprives the world of knowledge.
World heritage is a recognition of the universal value of heritage and the need for the international community to protect it. Conflict, war, and looting are threats to world heritage but through international conventions state parties can cooperate and assist each other with the understanding of the need to protect the universal value of our collective cultural heritage.
