Protecting cultural property during armed conflict: an international perspective
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-11-13

That cultural property is damaged and destroyed during conflict is seen as a given. However, for over 2000 years military theorists have suggested that this is poor military practice. Military forces began to take the issue seriously in the late 19th century and the protection of cultural property was seen as a serious responsibility by Allied, and some parts of Axis, forces during the Second World War. At the end of that conflict the international community came together to produce the 1954 ‘Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict’ and its First Protocol. Sadly, by the end of the 20th century little of this responsibility continued to be acknowledged by the military, or by heritage professionals, and over the last 30 years cultural property has become a specific target in many conflicts. This paper will discuss briefly the history of cultural property protection and then outline some of the activity of the period since 2003.

Professor Peter Stone OBE FSA MCIfA, UNESCO Chair in Cultural Property Protection and Peace