Abstract This paper examines the 2016 trial of Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi by the International Criminal Court (ICC) through the lenses of discourse analysis and linguistic anthropology, with a focus on how trial actors navigated legitimacy challenges. Al Mahdi, a member of Ansar Dine, was charged with the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against religious and historic buildings in Timbuktu, which were UNESCO World Heritage sites. This paper argues that the trial actors used a rhetorical “local-to-global parallelism” which sought to consolidate a global range of constituencies and legitimate the ICC’s actions both normatively and sociologically. The local-to-global parallelism served to “talk into existence” a broad-based victimhood, which reinforced the court’s symbolic authority and its claims to jurisdiction. It also relied heavily on intertextual connections between the ICC and UNESCO, thereby legitimating the prosecution of cultural heritage destruction as a grave international crime.

Since the outbreak of the current armed conflicts in Ukraine and Palestine, both States have actively pursued nominations to the World Heritage List established by the 1972 Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. Both Palestine and Ukraine have relied on emergency procedures to nominate certain sites, while simultaneously inscribing several other properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger. As the destruction of such cultural and natural heritage would be an impoverishment for the international community as a whole, this article will assess the influence that inscription on the World Heritage List has on the conviction of an individual for the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to art or historic monuments that are inscribed on the List. It will first focus on the existing jurisprudence of the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia regarding the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against cultural property, before evaluating the current developments in Ukraine and Palestine concerning the inscription of World Heritage sites threatened by the ongoing conflicts.

Cultural heritage sites in several countries in the Arab Region have been weaponised to erase peoples’ histories and to re/construct narratives. Politicians have proposed profit-driven urban regeneration and neoliberal projects that have led to the destruction of peoples’ heritage as in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Destruction, often legitimised to ‘improve’ and ‘modernise’ cities, has led to the mass displacement of people and the loss of architectural identity. In the context of war, the destruction of cultural heritage has been used as a war tactic to perform power and communicate messages of dominance to local, regional and global audiences. This has been the case in countries such as Palestine, Libya, Iraq and Sudan where cultural heritage has become part of punishing communities and erasing their presence. In both ‘peace’ and war, and when the lines between them blur, we need to protect cultural heritage to celebrate the diversity of communities, and build a future that is free, just and inclusive to all. But how do we restore hope at the time of mass destruction?

<span>INTERNATIONAL LAW AND COMMON CONCERNS OF HUMANKIND. THE INTENTIONAL DESTRUCTION OF CULTURAL HERITAGE</span>

Abstract Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, a rich body of legal scholarship has tackled various legal issues arising from Israel’s overall military conduct. One issue that has received very little attention is Israel’s destruction of Palestinian cultural heritage. In this article, I demonstrate how Israel’s systematic destruction of Gaza’s cultural heritage has been facilitated through reliance on sources and language of law. Considering this unprecedented level of destruction, I examine the role of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), and the International Criminal Court (ICC) in applying protection and accountability measures in response to the ongoing destruction of Palestinian heritage. I suggest that these three organizations provide the State of Palestine with an entry point to demand recognition, protection, and accountability for the destruction of this heritage. Rather than approaching each organization as an end in itself, I propose engaging with the three organizations simultaneously as tools to be utilized.

Wars and armed conflicts have a negative impact on the cultural heritage of countries where military operations are carried out. Cultural assets are important as a historical value for a given society, a scientific value due to their cognitive value or the preservation of identity and culture, among others. It is cultural identity that influences the sense of belonging to a given society, a given group and the values it adopts. Consequently, we can conclude that through the role of cultural assets in the context of social identity, we can also talk about building social resilience, which is supposed to lead to the capacity for survival, recovery and strong bonds. The article points to international regulations that are not effective enough to stop the destruction of cultural heritage in Ukraine. The aim of this article is to point out examples of the destruction and plundering of cultural property taking place in Ukraine and the actions of both the Ukrainian side and international efforts to preserve it. A very important process is the documentation and cataloguing of cultural property and the possibility of storing movable cultural property outside the area of war or armed conflict. In the years to come, the damage done in Ukraine will require considerable financial and personnel resources to reconstruct. There is also a risk that some cultural property will never be returned to the Ukrainian side.

The intentional destruction of cultural heritage undermines human dignity, identity, and intergenerational continuity and, when committed in armed conflict, constitutes a serious violation of international law. Between 2013 and 2019, the so-called Islamic State (Daesh) conducted a systematic campaign of cultural destruction in Iraq and Syria, targeting monuments, religious sites, museums, and archaeological remains while simultaneously exploiting antiquities trafficking to finance its operations. This article examines how international law responds to such acts when perpetrated by a non-state armed group lacking international legal personality. Drawing on the doctrine of the Common Heritage of Humanity, UNESCO’s prohibition of intentional destruction, and developments in international criminal law, the paper analyses the allocation of responsibility between states and individuals for heritage crimes committed by Daesh. Using a doctrinal and case-law-based methodology, it assesses state obligations to prevent, protect, and repair cultural damage, alongside the emergence of individual criminal responsibility under the Rome Statute and domestic jurisdictions. The article argues that, notwithstanding Daesh’s non-state character, contemporary international law provides a coherent accountability framework that integrates state responsibility, individual criminal liability, and post-conflict restorative measures, reaffirming cultural heritage as a collective interest of humanity and a core component of international legal protection.

This comparative study examines the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage in two major late-twentieth and early twenty-first century conflicts: the Yugoslav Wars (1991-1999) and the Islamic State (ISIS) campaigns in Iraq and Syria (2014-2017). Despite occurring in different geopolitical contexts with distinct ideological frameworks ethnic nationalism in the Balkans versus religious extremism in the Middle East both conflicts witnessed systematic targeting of cultural and religious sites as instruments of identity erasure and population displacement. The Balkans experienced what has been characterized as the greatest destruction of European cultural heritage since World War II, with over 1,200 mosques destroyed in Bosnia-Herzegovina alongside hundreds of churches and iconic structures including Mostar's sixteenth-century Old Bridge and Sarajevo's National Library. ISIS destroyed over forty major archaeological sites including the ancient Assyrian cities of Nimrud, Hatra, and Nineveh, the Roman-era city of Palmyra, and numerous mosques, churches, and museums. International responses differed markedly: the Balkans benefited from prosecutions by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), while Middle Eastern destruction prompted UN Security Council resolutions and UNESCO-led documentation initiatives. This analysis reveals heritage destruction as a calculated strategy of cultural cleansing with profound implications for international law, heritage protection frameworks, and our understanding of contemporary conflict.

Abstract Despite the widespread and creative use of heritage politics by a range of international actors, such as multilateral institutions and states, the field of International Relations (IR) has paid insufficient attention to the topic. To the extent that these politics have entered the field’s attention, it has been primarily through instances of highly publicized cultural heritage destruction during armed conflict. This special issue brings together eight research articles, as well as a framing introduction and a conclusion, with the aim of launching international heritage politics as an important IR research agenda. Moving beyond destruction to the productive politics of heritage, these contributions show the range of these politics from the construction of international cultural status to forging contemporary international alliances along themes of cultural and historical familiarity. Further, they show heritage politics at work in international institutions, from UNESCO to the ICC, in bilateral and multilateral relations, and as moving between international and domestic politics. In these broad deployments, heritage politics are attached to museum collections, travelling exhibits, archaeological digs, DNA tests, restitution demands, and debates on international land swaps.

On 21 July 356 BCE, an individual of obscure origins, known as Herostratus, deliberately set fire to the sacred Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.As a result, this monumental structure, revered as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, was reduced to rubble within hours.Upon his arrest and subsequent interrogation, Herostratus openly admitted to the act, disclosing that his primary motivation was the pursuit of notoriety.He was seeking kleos -glory -for having destroyed the sacred Temple of Artemis.Herostratus was executed for his sacrilege and his motives were deemed exceptionally disgraceful.Consequently, he was not only sentenced to death, but also prevented from fulfilling his aspiration for eternal glory.To ensure that Herostratus never achieved his professed goal of everlasting fame, he was sentenced to damnatio memoriae.His name and memory were condemned to eternal oblivion.It was henceforth forbidden to even mention the name of Herostratus. 1 However, this punishment was not executed with complete effectiveness, as the name of the arsonist remains known today.In contemporary usage, "herostratic" has come to describe individuals who commit heinous crimes in pursuit of notoriety.Particularly in the post-9/11 world, Herostratus has emerged as a prototype for terrorists seeking to shock the global public.While their primary targets are often innocent civilians, some also direct their attacks toward renowned monuments and cultural landmarks.A notable parallel can be drawn between the arson of the Temple of Artemis and the Taliban's destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan

The protection of heritage is a security issue recognised by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2347. The resolution acknowledges the importance of cultural property for peace and security, and underlines the central role of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in international efforts to protect heritage during armed conflicts. Rooted in the UN’s broader commitment to shield populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing, the safeguarding of cultural property has also become relevant in the context of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P). This article analyses UNESCO’s and the Security Council’s argumentation surrounding the adoption of Resolution 2347 in 2017, examining how the shared commitment to protect heritage against atrocities reflects aspirations to protect vulnerable populations under R2P and problematises the standard division of labour within the United Nations system. The article concludes that while the agendas of R2P and heritage protection appear compatible and mutually supportive, in practice they are both defined and constrained by the challenge posed by state sovereignty. Moreover, despite the unanimous acknowledgment of heritage protection as a humanitarian and security imperative, it remains unclear whether the resolution perceives the threat to international peace and security as stemming primarily from the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage, or from terrorist activity financed through the plundering of such property. This ambiguity highlights the internal division between the two UN actors: the first reading echoes the heritage governance rhetoric characteristic of UNESCO, while the latter frames counterterrorism as part of the global heritage protection agenda, thereby legitimising the Security Council’s involvement.

Abstract The paper investigates how discrepancies in trade data can signal illicit flows of cultural goods. Focusing on Italy, a country highly endowed with cultural heritage and exposed to the risk of illicit trafficking countered by a specialized law enforcement unit, the presence of a consistent gap between the value of cultural goods exported from the country and the value reported by its trading partners over three decades is documented and analyzed. The paper offers two main contributions. First, we estimate a gravity model of trade gaps in four separate categories of cultural goods, each subject to varying degrees of legal protection and vulnerability to illicit trade, incorporating a novel indicator of cultural salience and corruption indicators. Second, we evaluate international policies aimed at curbing illicit trade in cultural goods in terms of their ability to reduce trade gaps. Our findings provide empirical evidence on the relationship between trade gaps and illicit markets for cultural objects, and confirm the role of interest in Italian heritage as a driving factor. Archaeological property is further analyzed separately before and after 2010 to show that the apparent increase of Italian trade may partly result from the Arab Springs’ consequences on destruction and looting of cultural heritage. Institutional enforcement through the UNESCO and UNIDROIT conventions is partially effective in reducing illicit trade.

The beginning of spring 2025 brought South Korea its worst wildfires which caused extensive environmental damage and fatal human losses and permanent destruction of cultural heritage. The wildfires demonstrated South Korea's rising exposure to climate change-driven disasters in an unprecedented way. South Korea needs to develop urgent wildfire prevention and detection and management strategies because climate change continues to accelerate at a dangerous rate. The research examines the factors that increase wildfire occurrence and intensity through rising temperatures and extended droughts and poor land management practices. The paper assesses innovative technological solutions which show promising outcomes for wildfire management. The research explores experimental drone technology and artificial intelligence systems which improve wildfire detection speed and precision while enhancing suppression effectiveness. The analysis examines recent studies and real-world implementation cases to demonstrate both the advantages and constraints of these innovative solutions. The research shows that technological progress by itself does not solve wildfire risks effectively. Innovation needs to form part of an integrated system which combines climate-smart forestry with ecological restoration and sustainable land-use planning. The study determines which strategies work best for South Korea while stressing the requirement for an urgent coordinated framework that unites advanced technologies with climate-responsive forestry practices. An integrated system enhances disaster readiness and response capabilities and builds long-term resistance against increasing wildfire threats.

Shattered grounds, unbroken place identity: The emotional geography of Hatay post-earthquake

The paper describes and analyzes the principal forms, methods, and results of Ukrainian-Polish cooperation in the sphere of heritage protection after February 24, 2022. The main focus is on the Kharkiv region, because it has suffered the greatest destruction of cultural and historical heritage as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian War. The key body of sources for the study is a group of eight interviews with members of the management and staff of such structural units of universities and local self-government as provided organizational support and coordination for joined efforts between Ukrainian and Polish specialists during the war, as well as heads of archives, museums, and libraries that cooperated with Polish partners in saving heritage sites. The interviews were recorded from September to November 2024 and are deposited for permanent storage at the Central State Archive of Science and Technology (TsDNTA) of Ukraine. The article outlines the process of establishing communication between heritage conservationists in Ukraine and Poland after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, analyzes the hierarchy of the institutions involved, and characterizes the main forms of support provided by Polish heritage conservationists to their Ukrainian colleagues (humanitarian assistance in the form of equipment and materials necessary to secure collections and ensure the autonomous operation of institutions in the conditions of unstable power supply; provision of equipment and advisory support for digitizing collections; help with publishing activity; organization of joint conferences, seminars, and internships; advisory assistance in the implementation of international projects; joint exhibitions). The author describes what tactical and strategic tasks have been accomplished thanks to this support and considers the question of what shared Ukrainian-Polish platforms of specialized interaction may emerge or receive further development as a result of this cooperation.

The Russo-Ukrainian War has led to the greatest destruction and damage to Ukraine’s cultural heritage since World War II. The war became a trigger for a rethinking of the meaning of cultural heritage in Ukrainian society, and caused a “turn” in attitudes towards culture more generally. Recognizing the complexity and importance of these developments, in May 2022 a group of researchers at V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University launched the academic project “City and War”. One of the project’s objectives was to capture the views of cultural experts on the ongoing processes of destruction, preservation, and reinterpretation of cultural heritage in Ukraine driven by the Russian military aggression. To accomplish this task, the project team is collecting in-depth interviews with representatives of the Ukrainian expert community. The paper analyzes experts’ reflections on several key issues: 1) systemic problems in cultural heritage protection in Ukraine; 2) challenges faced by the field during the Russo-Ukrainian War, in particular since the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022; 3) strategies for safeguarding cultural heritage in wartime; 4) the use of digital technologies in cultural heritage protection during the Russo-Ukrainian War. The article concludes that the interviews collected for the project offer testimony important for understanding the pre-war specifics of the field and the current state and future prospects of cultural heritage preservation and reinterpretation in Ukraine. At the same time, it is noted that cultural experts should be more proactive in broadcasting their vision of the pressing problems of cultural heritage protection, and should strive to make their views more accessible to the general public. It is important that experts effectively interact with other social actors and that they not only react to public demand, but also take on a more assertive role in the public discussion around heritage and, to a certain extent, guide the public opinion.

This study examines the legal submission made by Turkey regarding its intervention in the judicial proceedings initiated by South Africa against Israel. The study considers Turkey's legal reasoning in comparison with the approaches adopted by other intervening states. It identifies common legal approaches among intervening states, including their emphasis on the jus cogens status of the prohibition of genocide, the erga omnes partes nature of obligations to prevent genocide, and the possibility of establishing genocidal intent through indirect evidence. Turkey's intervention makes distinctive contributions in three areas: its interpretation of responsibilities arising from occupying power status; its argument that systematic destruction of health systems constitutes genocide; and its analysis of the relationship between apartheid and genocide. The study also identifies aspects that could have strengthened Turkey's application, including a more comprehensive challenge to Israel's self-defense argument, greater emphasis on cultural heritage destruction as evidence of genocidal intent, deeper analysis of the prevention obligation's scope, and more thorough examination of humanitarian aid obstruction. The research concludes that Article 63 interventions serve as important mechanisms for developing and clarifying international norms. The ICJ's assessment of these interventions will potentially contribute significantly to the evolution of international law regarding erga omnes partes obligations, determination of genocidal intent, and the scope of genocide prevention obligations. Future research should include detailed analysis of the ICJ's assessments of intervention applications in this case and examination of their effects on the development of international law, particularly concerning the relationship between genocide and other international crimes, and the scope of prevention obligations for occupying powers.

The low level of public understanding about historical and architectural values of historical areas in both urban and rural areas often leads to neglect or even destruction of cultural heritage. This community service activity aims to increase public awareness of the importance of architectural and urban conservation through a service learning approach in the form of advocacy based on popular scientific writing in online media. To this end, the implementing team compiled and published four popular scientific articles that discuss conservation issues in communicative language and are tailored to the characteristics of general readers. The implementation method consists of three main stages: preparation (collection of materials, writing training), preparation and correction of articles, and publication and dissemination through various digital media. The results of the activity show that this strategy is able to reach a wider audience, encourage public discussion, and raise new awareness of the importance of preserving urban architecture. This activity also succeeded in positioning academic knowledge as an integral part of the media-based social advocacy movement. In the future, a similar approach is recommended to be expanded in scale with policy support and cross-sector collaboration.

On the issue of cultural heritage protection, there has been little systematic research on the subject in the past. At the same time, the importance of cultural heritage protection is self-evident. Therefore, from a political science point of view, why are some cultural heritages protected in wars while others are destroyed? In response to this question, this paper attempts to explain the factors affecting the protection and destruction of cultural heritage in war, and argues for the protection of cultural heritage in four different paths, including three factors, using specific battles in the Second World War as examples. The factors influencing the protection of cultural heritage are categorised into a military and a political level, where the military level, which is prioritised, is where the subjective estimation of the power contrasts and whether cultural heritage is used for military purposes directly affects the protection of cultural heritage, and the political level where political considerations at home and abroad are the influencing factors. Only when these factors work together and favour protection, cultural heritage can be protected from destruction.

This study investigates regional variations in media framings of ISIS on X, identifying the key factors contributing to these differences. By analysing diverse perspectives and approaches adopted by media accounts, the research sheds light on how various factors shape media discourse on social media platforms. Data were collected from X using RStudio and the academictwitteR package. Network analysis was employed to identify key opinion leaders (KOLs) within each regional group, while framing analysis explored media variations through framing devices such as problem definition and causal interpretation. Findings reveal that Asian media primarily focus on local impacts, particularly the radicalization of Indonesian citizens by ISIS and egregious human rights abuses. Euro-Anglosphere media emphasize international involvement, highlighting violent acts and advocating for a coordinated global response. Middle Eastern media centre their framing on local events, including military engagements, cultural heritage destruction, and immediate regional consequences. These variations are influenced by factors such as geopolitical proximity, national context, domestic journalistic norms, and online netizen engagement patterns. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the dynamics of media discourse on X concerning ISIS.