The Concept of Cultural Genocide

Abstract

Abstract The concept of “cultural genocide” was considered for, but eventually dismissed from the text of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948). At the heart of the concept of cultural genocide lies the idea that cultural groups may be destroyed by destroying the material expressions or “anchorage” of their culture. This idea tells us something about the critical value that we ascribe to cultural heritage. This chapter scrutinizes this proposed value relation between cultural heritage and cultural groups through an examination of the concept of cultural genocide. The first part of the chapter deals with the values underlying the original concept of cultural genocide, including the idea of the importance of cultural heritage for the surviving of a people. To this aim, the chapter will examine the normative evolution of the concept of cultural genocide from its origins to the 1948 Genocide Convention, including an analysis of the drafting of the Convention and the reason why cultural genocide was left out. The second part of the chapter evaluates how international law, both at its normative and enforcement level, deals with the concept of cultural genocide today—especially in the context of deliberate and systematic targeting and destruction of cultural heritage in armed conflict. Finally, this will be held up against the lack of a systematic account of the effects on cultures of losing the material expressions of their cultural heritage.