The Evolution of the International Legal Regulation of Cultural Property Protection During Armed Conflicts

Recent decades have seen a growing number of armed clashes in Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia involving military units and international terrorist groups that readily use the practice of attacking and looting cultural property as a military strategy. In this regard, a comprehensive study of the legal and organizational foundations of the international legal regulation of the protection of cultural property during armed conflicts, as well as an assessment of their effectiveness, and the identification of promising tasks for the development of additional measures and strategies for the preservation of cultural heritage, with due account of new challenges and threats, is of scientific and practical interest. This paper examines the provisions of key international treaties, as well as decisions of the main bodies and specialized agencies of the UN, which together form the existing international legal regime for the protection of cultural property in armed conflict. The author also analyses the decisions of international criminal justice bodies on holding individuals accountable for deliberate attacks on cultural sites as part of military actions. Special attention is paid to the study of scientific works of both Russian and foreign researchers which contribute to the formation of international legal concepts designed to resolve existing problems in the current international legal regulation of the issue under study and produce promising concepts for the development of the doctrine of international law. General scientific and special research methods are used as the methodological basis of the study. The study found that, throughout the 20th century, states have consistently developed norms for the protection of cultural property from threats associated with armed conflicts, while the 21st century has been marked by the use of best practices in the activities of international justice bodies regarding the application of the rules on liability for attacks on cultural property during armed conflicts. In addition, the study revealed that, for the first time in the history of UN peacekeeping activities, the UN Security Council field tested the mandate of the Multidisciplinary Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali, in which the peacekeeping contingent, among other things, performed the tasks of protecting, safeguarding, and restoring cultural heritage sites together with UNESCO. It would be wise to identify and generalize the prospects for the development of new international legal measures for the preservation of cultural heritage for future generations, taking into account the changing nature of armed conflicts, the intensification of the activities of international terrorist groups, and the growing practice of destroying the centuries-old cultural heritage of peoples in the name of so-called “cultural cleansing.” The relevance of this study lies in the establishment of new approaches of states to the protection of cultural heritage as a means of ensuring international peace and security.This paper presents the author’s objective assessments of the established international legal framework, judicial practice of international criminal justice bodies, and doctrinal approaches of both Russian and foreign scientists on the issue of the international legal regulation of the protection of cultural property during armed conflicts. The forms of international legal cooperation of states at the United Nations within the framework of UNESCO on the development of modern regulatory and organizational foundations for the interaction of the competent authorities of states to prevent and suppress the destruction of cultural heritage, as well as the looting and illegal export of cultural property in the event of an armed conflict, especially by terrorist groups, are considered separately.

1. Arutyunyan A. 2017. Delo Al'-Makhdi i napadenie na kul'turnye tsennosti kak mezhdunarodnoe prestuplenie [The Al_mahdi Affair and the Attack on Cultural Property as an International Crime]. International Justice. No. 2. P. 118–132. (In Russian). DOI: 10.21128/2226-2059-2017-2-118132

2. Batyr' V. A. 2023. Mezhdunarodno-pravovye rezhimy okhrany kul'turnykh tsennostei v usloviyakh fakticheskoi situatsii vooruzhennogo konflikta [International Legal Regimes for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict]. Lex Russica. No. 76(7). P. 98–118. (In Russian). DOI: 10.17803/1729-5920.2023.200.7.098-118

3. Boguslavskii M. M. 2006. Sud'ba kul'turnykh tsennostei [The fate of cultural values]. Moscow: Yurist Publishers. 206 p. (In Russian).

4. Bugnion F. 2004. Legal history of the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. International Review of the Red Cross. No. 854. P. 5–17.

5. Nersessian D. L. 2010. Genocide and Political Groups. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 356 p.

6. Dokumenty po mezhdunarodnomu gumanitarnomu pravu i drugie dokumenty, otnosyashchiesya k vedeniyu voennykh deistvii. [Documents on international humanitarian law and other documents related to the conduct of hostilities]. 2010. Moscow: International Committee of the Red Cross. 396 p. (In Russian).

7. Egorov S. A., Anisimov I. O. 2019. “Kul'turnaya chistka” i zashchita kul'turnykh ob"ektov v period vooruzhennykh konfliktov [“Cultural cleansing” and the protection of cultural sites during armed conicts]. International Legal Courier. No. 6. P. 1–7. (In Russian).

8. Fiankan-Bokonga C. 2017. A historic resolution to protect cultural heritage. The UNESCO Courier. No. 3. P. 7–10.

9. Frigo M. 2004. Cultural property v. cultural heritage: A “Battle of Concepts” in international law? International Review of the Red Cross. No. 854. P. 67–80.

10. Glotova S. V. 2016. Kontseptsiya prestuplenii protiv chelovechnosti: obshchepriznannost' i sushchnostnye priznaki v svete sovremennogo razvitiya mezhdunarodnogo prava [The Concept of “Crimes against Humanity”: General Recognition and Contextual Elements in Modern International Law]. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Law. No. 3. P. 36–49. (In Russian). DOI: 10.21638/11701/spbu14.2016.304

11. Grishin A. S. 2014. 20 let Mezhdunarodnomu tribunalu po byvshei Yugoslavii: itogi deyatel'nosti i perspektivy mezhdunarodnogo pravosudiya [20 Years of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: Results of its work and prospects of international justice]. Vestnik of Lobachevsky University of Nizhny Novgorod. No. 1. P. 359–365. (In Russian).

12. Henckaerts J.-M., Doswald-Beck L. 2005. Customary International Humanitarian Law. Vol. 1: Rules. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 676 p. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511804700

13. Kotlyarov I. I. 2013. Mezhdunarodno-pravovoe regulirovanie vooruzhennykh konfliktov (osnovnye teoreticheskie problem i praktika): monografiya [International legal regulation of armed conflicts (main theoretical problems and practice): A monograph]. Moscow: Yurlitinform. 504 p. (In Russian).

14. Lipnikov A. S. 1999. Mezhdunarodno-pravovoe regulirovanie okhrany kul'turnykh tsennostei vo vremya vooruzhennogo konflikta [International legal regulation of the protection of cultural property during an armed conflict]. Moscow Journal of International Law. No. 2. P. 291–300. (In Russian).

15. Mahnad P. 2017. Protecting cultural property in Syria: New opportunities for States to enhance compliance with international law? International Review of the Red Cross. No. 99(906). P. 1037–1074. DOI: 10.1017/S1816383118000322

16. Martens F. 1879. Vostochnaya voina i Bryussel'skaya konferentsiya. 1874–1878 g. [The Eastern War and the Brussels Conference. 1874–1878]. Saint Petersburg. 596 p. (In Russian).

17. Marusin I. S. 2014. Razgranichenie yurisdiktsii Mezhdunarodnogo ugolovnogo suda i vnutrigosudarstvennykh sudebnykh organov [Delimitation of jurisdiction between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and national courts]. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Law. No. 4. P. 199–207. (In Russian).

18. Molchanov S. N. 2000. Ob ispol'zovanii ponyatii “kul'turnye tsennosti” i “kul'turnoe nasledie (dostoyanie)” v mezhdunarodnom prave (informatsionno-analiticheskii obzor) [On the use of the concepts of “cultural values» and “cultural heritage (property)” in international law (information and analytical review)]. Moscow Journal of International Law. No. 2. P. 20–27. (In Russian). DOI: 10.24833/0869-0049-2000-2-20-27

19. O’Keefe R. 2009. The Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 405 p. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511494260

20. Puzyreva Y. V. 2012. Istoriko-pravovye aspekty stanovleniya i razvitiya printsipa zashchity grazhdanskikh ob"ektov v period vooruzhennykh konfliktov [Historical and Legal Aspects of Formation and Development of the Principle of Protection of Civilian Objects in Armed Conflicts]. Moscow Journal of International Law. No. 1. P. 89–110. (In Russian). DOI: 10.24833/0869-0049-20121-89-110

21. Puzyreva Y. V. 2023. Mezhdunarodno-pravovye osnovy zashchity grazhdanskikh ob"ektov v period vooruzhennykh konfliktov: monografiya [International legal framework for the protection of civilian objects during armed conflicts. A monograph]. Moscow: INFRA-M. 150 p. (In Russian).

22. Schabas W. 2009. Genocide in international law: The crimes of crimes. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 624 p. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511575556

23. Solis G. 2021. The Law of Armed Conflict: International Humanitarian Law in War. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 850 p. DOI:10.1017/9781108917797

24. Toman J. 2005. Zashchita kul'turnykh tsennostei v sluchae vooruzhennogo konflikta: kommentarii k Konventsii o zashchite kul'turnykh tsennostei v sluchae vooruzhennogo konflikta [Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict: A Commentary on the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict]. Moscow: INFRA-M . 542 p. (In Russian).