All Possible Steps. Safeguarding Cultural Property Protection in the 1954 Hague Convention

Cunliffe, E; Fox, P

All Possible Steps. Safeguarding Cultural Property Protection in the 1954 Hague Convention

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Emma Cunliffe ORCiD, Dr Paul Fox

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Abstract

Significant attention today focusses on heritage destruction, but the key international laws prohibiting it - the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its First and Second Protocols (1954/1999) - lay out two core strands to limit the damage: the measures of respect for armed forces, and the safeguarding measures states parties should put in place in peacetime. The authors explore the safeguarding regime, asking whether states parties have truly taken “all possible steps”, as the Convention tasks them? What can we learn from past practice, and how is the Convention implemented today? What are the implications of new trends in heritage law and management – such as the rise of the World Heritage Convention, and in the increasing focus on safe havens rather than refuges? Can new methods of heritage management like Risk Assessment theory be applied? And in a Convention specifically focussed on state parties – what of their opponents, armed non-state actors? This volume incorporates wide-ranging international perspectives from established and emerging scholars, together with practitioner insights from the armed forces and heritage professionals. Articles range from leadership and the role of the State Party Representative, to the responsibilities of armed non-state groups in safeguarding, to explorations of past and current practice in countries ranging from England to Afghanistan. Using a mix of case studies and theoretical explorations of new and existing methodologies, articles cover a broad timespan from World War II to today, with examples from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Our purpose is to promote wider understanding of the practical effectiveness of the Convention in the contemporary world by exploring the perceived opportunities and constraints the 1954 Hague Convention offers today to protect cultural property in armed conflict, firmly establishing that such protection must begin in peace.