Challenges for International Cultural Heritage Law

Abstract

The period from the shelling of Dubrovnik, Sarajevo and Mostar in the 1990s to the bombardment of Homs and Aleppo in the 2010s, witnessed the significant expansion of interventionist activities by the international community and then their gradual contraction in this new century. The factors that fostered the cosmopolitan drive during this brief period had a positive impact on the protection of cultural heritage during armed conflict and peacetime. It also puts into stark relief the perpetual challenges facing the legal protection of cultural heritage at the international level, which forms the core of this chapter. In this first part, I consider how the international community is conceived and acts in these circumstances and through the notion of the cultural heritage of humanity and international cooperation, with particular reference to the use of the World Heritage Convention in conflicts from Yugoslavia to Mali. Second, I examine how individuals (and groups) as conceptualized in respect of rights under human rights law, particularly cultural rights and the right to access culture, and responsibilities of perpetrators under international humanitarian law and international criminal law. In essence, this structure serves to illustrate how the state which continues to define and dominate international law remain a central actor in hindering and promoting the protection of cultural heritage within and beyond its territory.