Disasters: An Additional (Legal) Dimension for the International Protection of Cultural Heritage

2021 ◽  
pp. 385-412
Author(s):  
Giulio Bartolini
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
International Community ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Natural Heritage ◽  
Significant Challenge ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Community Interest ◽  
General Relevance ◽  
Evolutionary Interpretation ◽  
Protection Of Cultural Heritage

Even if disasters are a significant challenge for the protection of cultural and natural heritage, the interest of the international community towards this issue has been quite limited for a long period. Still, some changes more recently could be recorded. In particular, a more contextualized and evolutionary interpretation of existing treaty provisions provided by international cultural heritage law, and the development of innovative practices tailored to face this scenario, could provide states with pertinent guidance on measures to be adopted. At the same time cultural concerns have been able to progressively fertilize international disaster law instruments in light of their inherent general relevance. The chapter examines the ways in which these areas of the law interplay and how features commonly associated with community interest norms have characterized this scenario.

Part II Substantive Aspects, Ch.4 Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenzerini Federico
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Community ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Special Significance ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Protection Of Cultural Heritage

This chapter focuses on the practice of deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, which has represented a plague accompanying humanity throughout all phases of its history and has involved many different human communities either as perpetrators or victims. In most instances of deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, the target of perpetrators is not the heritage in itself but, rather, the communities and persons for whom the heritage is of special significance. This reveals a clear discriminatory and persecutory intent against the targeted cultural groups, or even against the international community as a whole. As such, intentional destruction of cultural heritage, in addition of being qualified as a war crime, is actually to be considered as a crime against humanity. Furthermore, it also produces notable implications in terms of human rights protection. Protection of cultural heritage against destruction is today a moral and legal imperative representing one of the priorities of the international community. In this respect, two rules of customary international law exist prohibiting intentional destruction of cultural heritage in time of war and in peacetime.

World Cultural Heritage: Obligations To The International Community As A Whole?

2004 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 189-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roger O'Keefe
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
World Heritage ◽  
International Community ◽  
Natural Heritage ◽  
World Heritage Convention ◽  
The World ◽  
World Cultural Heritage

The preamble to the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage 1972 (the ‘World Heritage Convention’),1adopted 30 years ago, testifies to the conviction of the States Parties ‘that deterioration or disappearance of any item of the cultural…heritage constitutes a harmful impoverishment of the heritage of all the nations of the world’.2It speaks of the recognized ‘importance, for all the peoples of the world, of safeguarding this unique and irreplaceable property, to whatever people it may belong’3and declares ‘that parts of the cultural…heritage…of outstanding interest…need to be preserved as part of the world heritage of mankind as a whole’.4

Culture

2019 ◽  
pp. 306-320
Author(s):  
Tullio Scovazzi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
International Community ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Intangible Cultural Heritage ◽  
Underwater Cultural Heritage ◽  
International Level ◽  
Broad Concept ◽  
Cultural Properties ◽  
Indispensable Tool ◽  
Protection Of Cultural Heritage

Based on the assumptions that culture contributes to the maintenance of peace and that the protection of culture is a general interest of the international community as a whole, UNESCO has promoted the conclusion of a number of treaties of global application that follow a broad concept of “cultural heritage” as the expression of the spirituality and creativity of individuals and peoples. They relate to the protection of cultural heritage during conflict, the illicit movements of cultural properties, the tangible cultural heritage, the underwater cultural heritage, the intangible cultural heritage, and the diversity of cultural expressions. In other cases, such as the intentional destruction of cultural heritage, declarations have been adopted within the UNESCO framework. Despite some gaps and criticisms, the UNESCO action is an indispensable tool for the protection and enhancement of cultural heritage at the international level.

The Human Dimension of the Protection of the Cultural Heritage from Destruction during Armed Conflicts

2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 205-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Berenika Drazewska
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
International Community ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Human Dimension ◽  
Aesthetic Value ◽  
Increasing Risk ◽  
Protection Of Cultural Heritage

Abstract:The concept of the “cultural heritage of all humankind” is often summarily dismissed by scholars, possibly due to the aura of unscholarly idealism it appears to emanate. However, it has long been claimed that the special status of objects of cultural, historical, or religious value is a consequence of their importance to the whole humanity rather than their economic or aesthetic value. Global outrage provoked by destruction of unique symbols of our shared past is proof that such claims are not unfounded. Considering that cultural heritage faces increasing risk of intentional destruction for ideological reasons, and the discriminatory intent inherent in such devastations poses a threat to the entire international community, it is opportune to initiate a discussion on the adequacy of the existing legal mechanisms for the protection of cultural heritage in armed conflicts and the perspectives it offers to address these challenges in a comprehensive and informed manner.

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