CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VI (1) Contemporary-Eurasia-VI-1-engl | Page 77

CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VI (1)
trafficking. Prof V.S. Mani would not be averse to any coercive action
by the Security Council based on its assessment of the situation vide
Article 39 of the U.N. Charter, provided, of course, it is all based on
international consensus. Prof Mani emphasized on the need for
consensus, for that is perhaps the only way a U.N. action can be legitimised.
He also emphasized the need to protect cultural property around the
globe given that in comtemporary armed conflict we increasingly
witness the targetting of monuments, places and structures of cultural
significance.
“The protection of cultural property is governed by several legal
instruments. In each conflict one has to see which of the instruments
have been ratified to determine the level of protection cultural
property should be afforded. The 1907 Hague Regulations have
become part of customary law and are binding on all states. The
provisions relating to cultural property, namely, Articles 23(g) and 56
are therefore applicable to all states in an international armed
conflict” 28 .
Beyond the 1907 Convention, there was the Hague Convention in
1954 and then the Second Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954
for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict
1999 29 (“Second Protocol”). The Second Protocol was adopted in
response to the gaps contained within the 1954 Convention. The main
crux of the Hague Conventions is to prevent the destruction of cultural
property and artifacts during war, including eliminating the use of
cultural property as a weapon of war 30 . Beyond the treatment of
cultural property in war, the Second Protocol states that Prosecution is
warranted when there is a violation of the conventions. Beyond these
specific conventions, crimes relating to cultural property can also be
found in the ICC Rome Statute (“Statute”).
28
The Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict, ASSER Institute,
http://www.asser.nl/default.aspx?site_id=9&level1=13336&level2=13374&level
3=13459
29
Protocol
text,
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=15207&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
30
Maas P., Cultural Property and Historical Monuments, Crimes of War,
http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/cultural-property-and-historical-
monuments/
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