December 1, 2010
The sites – Choirokoitia, Paphos (photo) and the Painted Churches of the Troodos region in Cyprus, as well as the Castel del Monte in Italy – were declared as being in need of enhanced protection by the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) during a meeting in Paris this week.
“We do not ever want a repeat of the destruction of
cultural sites such as the Mostar Bridge in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, or attacks like those against the old city of
Dubrovnik in Croatia during the Balkans conflict,”
said Committee Chairman Nout van Woudenberg.
“Enhanced protection status reinforces the legal
measures in place to prevent such terrible losses to the
world’s cultural heritage,” he added after the
status was granted, the first such decision by the
Committee.
The “enhanced protection” status is one of the
features of the 1999 Second Protocol to the Hague
Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property
in the Event of Armed Conflict.
The granting of such protection by the Committee to sites
in countries that are party to the Second Protocol can be
made under three conditions – that the site be of
the greatest importance to humanity; that it be protected
by adequate domestic legal and administrative measures
recognizing its exceptional cultural and historic value
and ensuring the highest level of protection; and that it
not be used for military purposes or to shield military
sites.
The protection means that States cannot fall back on the argument of “imperative military necessity” for using or targeting cultural sites in times of conflict. It also obligates States to make intentional attacks against identified sites a criminal offence or to penalize use of such sites or their immediate surroundings in support of military action.
