The International Criminal Court and Cultural Property

Abstract

Abstract This chapter unpacks the war crime of intentional attacks on cultural property. It does so through the lens of the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC). This is a fruitful lens for a number of reasons. The ICC’s third conviction, that of Al Mahdi (Timbuktu, Mali), was solely on this charge. Al Mahdi pled guilty and received a nine-year sentence. The ICC also has awarded reparations for the destruction of the shrines for which Al Mahdi had been convicted. The Al Mahdi case, moreover, forms part of a broader effort by the ICC Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) to address cultural property crimes as detailed by policy papers and cooperation agreements between the OTP and UNESCO. This chapter, addressing each of these aspects, sets out details of the crime. It then assumes an interrogatory tone: What role, exactly, can international criminal law play in the protection of cultural property, in the definition of what is “culture,” and the scope (and beneficiaries) of “protection”? What is the interplay between criminalizing the destruction of cultural property, on the one hand, and transitional justice, on the other, predicated as it may be on resistance to cultures of oppression and impunity?