Stones of the Past: Intentional Peacetime Heritage Destruction and International Law
(2019) JURM02 20192Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract
- The protection of cultural heritage first appeared in international conventions at the beginning of the 20th century. At the time, protection was only awarded in the event of an armed conflict. Traditionally, questions of heritage and its eventual destruction belonged within the national jurisdiction but the emerge of internationalist ideas of a ‘common heritage of mankind’ changed the perception. This consequently gave rise to a conflict between the principle of sovereignty and the idea that all nations and peoples enjoy rights concerning some cultural heritage. The concept of ‘common heritage of mankind’ is closely tied to another, obligations of erga omnes character. Such obligations represent values considered inherent to the... (More)
- The protection of cultural heritage first appeared in international conventions at the beginning of the 20th century. At the time, protection was only awarded in the event of an armed conflict. Traditionally, questions of heritage and its eventual destruction belonged within the national jurisdiction but the emerge of internationalist ideas of a ‘common heritage of mankind’ changed the perception. This consequently gave rise to a conflict between the principle of sovereignty and the idea that all nations and peoples enjoy rights concerning some cultural heritage. The concept of ‘common heritage of mankind’ is closely tied to another, obligations of erga omnes character. Such obligations represent values considered inherent to the international community as a whole.
The purpose of this text is to investigate the current international norm concerning intentional damaging intervention in cultural heritage of outstanding universal value on their territory. As no reference is made directly to such intentional destruction in relevant binding conventions, this text will investigate its substance under relevant peacetime conventions or under customary international law. By the help of four cases, all cultural heritage threatened in peacetime by the government of their host states, and the consequent reactions from other states and relevant international actors the aim is to analyse the legality of the destruction under international law. This method is based on the theory that states when evaluating the lawfulness of their actions observe state practice in relation to relevant incidents and that this gives rise to a body of norms. The analysis of these cases show that intentional damaging intervention is a violation of a State Party’s responsibilities under the World Heritage Convention today and can be ground for legal remedies on the basis of erga omnes. It does not however, indicate that it would have given rise to a customary obligation to refrain from heritage destruction even if consensus is emerging. (Less) - Abstract (Swedish)
- Skydd för kulturarv under internationell rätt introducerades i internationella konventioner i början på 1900-talet. Ursprungligen behandlades ämnet uteslutande i förhållande till regler gällande väpnad konflikt. Frågor om kulturarv har traditionellt sett tillhört den nationella jurisdiktionen men framväxandet av idén om ’världsarv’, kulturarv som på grund sitt värde tillhör alla folk och nationer, ändrade inställningen väsentligen. Detta gav upphov till en konflikt med suveränitetsprincipen rörande frågor om världsarv som är aktuell än idag. Världsarv är också starkt knuten till idén att vissa intressen och värden har sådan universell karaktär att de förpliktigar alla nationer lika, så kallade erga omnes förpliktelser.
Syftet med detta... (More) - Skydd för kulturarv under internationell rätt introducerades i internationella konventioner i början på 1900-talet. Ursprungligen behandlades ämnet uteslutande i förhållande till regler gällande väpnad konflikt. Frågor om kulturarv har traditionellt sett tillhört den nationella jurisdiktionen men framväxandet av idén om ’världsarv’, kulturarv som på grund sitt värde tillhör alla folk och nationer, ändrade inställningen väsentligen. Detta gav upphov till en konflikt med suveränitetsprincipen rörande frågor om världsarv som är aktuell än idag. Världsarv är också starkt knuten till idén att vissa intressen och värden har sådan universell karaktär att de förpliktigar alla nationer lika, så kallade erga omnes förpliktelser.
Syftet med detta arbete är att utreda gällande internationell rätt rörande uppsåtlig skadande påverkan på kulturarv av utomstående universellt värde av stater på deras nationella territorium. Internationella konventioner saknar direkta referenser till detta förhållande och målet är således att identifiera normens innehåll utifrån internationella konventioner och internationell sedvanerätt. Med hjälp av fyra fallstudier som alla innefattar kulturarv som hotats i fredstid och de efterföljande reaktionerna från andra stater är målet att analysera lagligheten under internationell rätt. Metoden grundar sig i idén att stater observerar andra staters reaktioner på relevanta incidenter för att utvärdera lagligheten av ett förfarande och att detta ger upphov till en normer. Analysen av fallen visar att uppsåtlig skadlig påverkan utgör ett brott mot art. 4 Världsarvskonventionen och att detta kan adresseras som en erga omnes förpliktelse. Det finns dock inget som styrker att det i dagsläget skulle ha givit upphov till en internationell sedvaneregel även om indikationer till konsensus kan observeras i vissa fall. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9000575
- author
- Coster, Amanda LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- JURM02 20192
- year
- 2019
- type
- H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
- subject
- keywords
- public international law, international law, cultural heritage, cultural property, state responsability
- language
- English
- id
- 9000575
- date added to LUP
- 2020-02-06 13:38:03
- date last changed
- 2020-02-06 13:38:03
@misc{9000575,
abstract = {{The protection of cultural heritage first appeared in international conventions at the beginning of the 20th century. At the time, protection was only awarded in the event of an armed conflict. Traditionally, questions of heritage and its eventual destruction belonged within the national jurisdiction but the emerge of internationalist ideas of a ‘common heritage of mankind’ changed the perception. This consequently gave rise to a conflict between the principle of sovereignty and the idea that all nations and peoples enjoy rights concerning some cultural heritage. The concept of ‘common heritage of mankind’ is closely tied to another, obligations of erga omnes character. Such obligations represent values considered inherent to the international community as a whole.
The purpose of this text is to investigate the current international norm concerning intentional damaging intervention in cultural heritage of outstanding universal value on their territory. As no reference is made directly to such intentional destruction in relevant binding conventions, this text will investigate its substance under relevant peacetime conventions or under customary international law. By the help of four cases, all cultural heritage threatened in peacetime by the government of their host states, and the consequent reactions from other states and relevant international actors the aim is to analyse the legality of the destruction under international law. This method is based on the theory that states when evaluating the lawfulness of their actions observe state practice in relation to relevant incidents and that this gives rise to a body of norms. The analysis of these cases show that intentional damaging intervention is a violation of a State Party’s responsibilities under the World Heritage Convention today and can be ground for legal remedies on the basis of erga omnes. It does not however, indicate that it would have given rise to a customary obligation to refrain from heritage destruction even if consensus is emerging.}},
author = {{Coster, Amanda}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Stones of the Past: Intentional Peacetime Heritage Destruction and International Law}},
year = {{2019}},
}