CRÍMENES CONTRA LOS BIENES CULTURALES EN EL CONTEXTO DE LOS CONFLICTOS ARMADOS CONTEMPORÁNEOS

This piece addresses the problem of today’s increasing damage and destruction of cultural heritage during conflict and turmoil, especially as this is currently taking place in Syria, Egypt, Libya, Iraq and Mali, while in places like Ukraine and Serbia cultural property is at risk. At this time its focus is not on the growing number of art theft cases taking place in Western Europe and the U.S., triggered by the economic crisis, but cultural property (war) crimes in times of conflict. It must be taken into account that the concept of armed conflict in today’s context and its connection with international terrorism and counter-terrorism stretches out from the pre- to post conflict phases. This is relevant for designing and planning risk-preparedness strategies for the safe guarding of cultural heritage, preferably following national, and international legal obligations. The legalities include new developments in International Criminal Law. Aim is to give the readers an impression of the complexity of cultural property protection (CPP) as a phenomenon that, unfortunately is part of contemporary asymmetric conflicts. Throughout suggestions will be made for practical solutions and measures improving CPP. Of course there are also pure scientific outcomes that will help the topic of heritage and conflicts to become and stay part of the international heritage discourse.Este artículo aborda el problema actual del incremento del deterioro y la destrucción del patrimonio cultural en el transcurso de conflictos y tumultos, sobre todo porque esto está ocurriendo en Siria, Egipto, Libia, Iraq y Mali, mientras que en otros lugares como Ucrania y Serbia los bienes culturales están en riesgo. No se trata, por tanto, de estudiar el creciente número de casos de robo de arte que tienen lugar en Europa Occidental y los EE.UU., provocado por la crisis económica, sino analizar los delitos contra los bienes culturales en tiempos de conflicto. Hay que tener en cuenta que el concepto de conflicto armado en el contexto actual y su conexión con el terrorismo internacional y consecuentemente con el contra-terrorismo se extiende a las fases el previas y posteriores del mismo. Esto es relevante para el diseño y la planificación de estrategias de prevención del riesgo para la tutela efectiva del patrimonio cultural, siendo preferible para ello que se cumplan las obligaciones legales nacionales e internacionales. Los aspectos legales incluyen nuevos desarrollos en el Derecho Penal Internacional. El objetivo es dar a los lectores una idea de la complejidad de la protección de los bienes culturales (CPP, por sus siglas en inglés) como un fenómeno que, por desgracia, es parte de los conflictos asimétricos contemporáneos. Se propondrán sugerencias de soluciones prácticas y medidas prácticas de mejora de los CPP. Por supuesto también hay resultados científicos puros que ayudarán a que el tema del patrimonio y de los conflictos se convierta y permanezca como parte del discurso internacional sobre el patrimonio

Cultural Property Protection in the Context of Military Operations: The Case of Uruk, Iraq

This paper deals with the use of military or militarized experts for cultural property protection (CPP) during times of conflict. CPP activities generally take place within a juridical framework that gives obligations for all parties involved, primarily the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and attention is paid to various implications and challenges that occur when implementing military CPP obligations within this framework. To illustrate matters, the paper details a specific case study from the author’s own field experience in the safeguarding of the archaeological site of Uruk in Iraq. Aspects, including economic, legal, financial, and educational implications, are presented and these are especially relevant since they apply (to an extent) to other situations, such as the recent cultural disasters in Egypt, Libya, and Syria. The Uruk case study is used to suggest a number of key elements that are vital for the implementation of an effective CPP strategy in the context of military operations. Overall, the importance of international cooperation, training, and education, along with the assistance of civil reach-back capabilities, is emphasized. The paper argues that an effective way to protect Cultural Property during armed conflicts is through military channels and with military logistics and tools. To fulfil CPP in agreement with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) joint preparations in peacetime are necessary. The handover of military initiated CPP projects to civil authorities has to take place as soon as the situation permits. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations

Heritage under attack : motives for targeting cultural property during armed conflict

Although attacks on cultural property have caused international outcry, our understanding of this phenomenon is still limited. In particular, little research has been directed towards exploring the motivations for such attacks. Therefore, we ask: What are the motives for attacking sites, buildings or objects representing cultural heritage? By combining insights from peace and conflict research with findings from heritage studies we present a typology of motivations for attacking cultural property. We identify four, not mutually exclusive, broad groups of motives: (i) attacks related to conflict goals, in which cultural property is targeted because it is connected to the issue the warring parties are fighting over (ii), military-strategic attacks, in which the main motivation is to win tactical advantages in the conflict (iii), signalling attacks, in which cultural property is targeted as a low-risk target that signals the commitment of the aggressor, and (iv) economic incentives where cultural property provides funding for warring parties. Our typology offers a theoretical structure for research about why, when, and by whom, cultural property is targeted. This is not only likely to provide academic benefits, but also to contribute to the development of more effective tools for the protection of cultural property during armed conflict