The protection of iraqi cultural property

International and Comparative Law Quarterly

Volumn 53, Issue 4, 2004, Pages 985-998

  Phuong, Catherine ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 34248053382     PISSN: 00205893     EISSN: 14716895     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/iclq/53.4.985     Document Type: Article

References (68)

1. See S Jenkins ‘A shameful theft of the crown jewels of memory’ The Times 2 May 2003.
2. The Times.
3. See W Langley and D Harrison ‘Raiders of the lost art’ Sunday Telegraph 20 Apr 2003
4. L. Mcdougall ‘UK database to track stolen art treasures’ Sunday Herald 27 Apr 2003
5. D. Mcdougall ‘US shamed by looting of antiquities’ The Scotsman 19 Apr 2003.
6. See Colonel M Bogdanos Iraq Museum Investigation: 22 April-8 September 2003 .
7. See O Burkeman ‘Iraq: after the war: Bush's cultural aides quit over sack of Baghdad's treasures’ The Guardian 18 Apr 2003.
8. See ‘Army Describes Steps to Protect Iraq's Cultural Heritage’ 4 May 2003 .
9. See Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, annex to Hague Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land. 18 October 1907, 36 Stat 2277, 1 Bevans 631 (hereinafter the 1907 Hague Regulations).
10. Art 56 also provides that the property of cultural institutions should be treated as private property and that any seizure or damage is unlawful and should lead to legal action. Art 55 of Additional Protocol I prohibits acts of hostility directed against historical monuments and works of art. See Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts. 8 June 1977, 1125 UNTS 3. Nevertheless, there was no direct US involvement in the looting of the museum, and in any case, the US is not a State party to Additional Protocol I.
11. See Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to para.2 of SC Res. 808. S/25704. 3 May 1993. para 55.
12. See also E Benvenisti The International Law of Occupation (Princeton University Press 1993) 93.
13. Convention for the protection of cultural property in the event of aimed conflict. 14 May 1954. 249 UNTS 240. hereinafter the 1954 Hague Convention.
14. It is supplemented by two protocols, see First Protocol for the protection of cultural property in the event of aimed conflict, 14 May 1954. 249 UNTS 358
15. Second Protocol for the protection of cultural property in the event of aimed conflict, 26 Mar 1999. (1999) 38 ILM 769.
16. The protection of cultural property during armed conflict was given renewed prominence with the adoption of the statutes of international criminal tribunals. The 1993 Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia included the destruction of cultural property in the list of war crimes ((1993) 32 ILM 1192. Art 3(d)).
17. For more detail, see H Abtahi ‘The protection of cultural property in times of armed conflict: the practice of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia’ (2001) 14 Harvard Human Riahts Journal 1. The 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court includes a similar provision (UN Doc A/CONF. 189/9, Arts 8(2)(b)(ix) and 8(2)(e)(iv)).
18. The US signed the 1954 Hague Convention, but subsequently made clear its intention not to become a party in 1958. See T Meron ‘Editorial comment: The time has come for the United States to ratify Geneva Protocol I’ (1994) 88 AJU. 678, at 685.
19. This decision was made partly because ratifying the Convention would limit the US capacity to use nuclear weapons (since one cannot protect individual cultural sites from a nuclear explosion), see DA Meyer ‘The 1954 Hague Cultural Property Convention and its emergence into customary international law’ (1993) 11 Boston University International Law Journal 349 at 353.
20. Nevertheless. President Clinton submitted the Convention to the Senate for ratification in 1999. See C Colwell-Chanthaphonh and J Piper ‘War and cultural property: the 1954 Hague Convention and the status of US ratification’ (2001) 10 International Journal of Cultural Property 217.
21. J.E. Kastenberg ‘The legal regime for protecting cultural property during armed conflict’ (1997) 42 Air Force Law Review 277 at 297.
22. See Meyer ‘The 1954 Hague Cultural Property Convention’ 387.
23. See JAR Nafziger ‘Protection of cultural heritage in time of war and its aftermath’ (2003) IFAR Journal vol 6. Nos 1 and 2.
24. Bogdanos Iraq Museum Investigation 6.
25. See M Gibson ‘Cultural tragedy in Iraq: a report on the looting of museums, archives, and sites’ IFAR Journal vol 6, Nos 1 and 2.
26. See ‘Who's to blame? The Economist 22 May 2003.
27. See D Cruickshank ‘Lost and found m Iraq’ The Times 16 June 2003.
28. See Minutes of evidence Taken before the House of Commons Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport. 8 July 2003, .
29. Convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property, 14 Nov 1970 (1971) 10 ILM 289, hereinafter the 1970 UNESCO Convention (as it was adopted by the UNESCO General Conference).
30. UNIDROIT Convention on stolen or illegally exported cultural objects, 24 June 1995.
31. (1995) 34 ILM 1330. hereinafter the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention.
32. See JH Merryman ‘Two ways of thinking about cultural property’ (1986) 80 AJIL 831.
33. reproduced in Merryman Thinking About the Elgin Marbles: Critical Essays on Cultural Property, Art and Law (The Hague Kluwer Law International 2000) 66–91.
34. Thinking About the Elgin Marbles: Critical Essays on Cultural Property, Art and Law 66–67.
35. The expression ‘cultural heritage of humanity’ has also appeared in the preamble of the recently adopted Convention of the safeguarding of intangible cultural property. 17 Oct 2003 .
36. See Art 136 of the United Nations Convention on the law of the sea. 10 Dec 1982 (1982) 21 ILM 1261.
37. For a comparison between the two concepts, see R O'Keefe ‘The meaning of “cultural property’ under the 1954 Haaue Convention’ (1999) 46 Netherlands International Law Review 42–43.
38. See Merryman ‘Two ways of thinking about cultural property’ 67.
39. ‘Two ways of thinking about cultural property’ n 2.
40. See Gibson ‘Cultural tragedy in Iraq’.
41. See SC Res 661 6 Aug 1990.
42. Quoted in L Mcdougall ‘Iraq: a nation robbed of its history’ Sunday Herald 20 Apr 2003.
43. See F Coulée ‘Quelques remarques sur la restitution interétatique des biens culturels sous 1’angle du droit international public’ (2000/2002) Revue Générale de Droit International Public 359.
44. Law Prohibiting the Smuggling of Antiquities No 40 of 1926
45. Antiquities Law No 59 of 1936
46. Law No 6 of 1942: Regulations regarding the Registration of Old Manuscripts
47. Antiquities and Heritage Law No 55 of 2002.
48. See Minutes of the International conference on cultural property stolen in Iraq. Lyon, 5–6 May 2003. esp comments by Mrs Magness-Gardmer and Chaffinch .
49. See KF Jowers ‘International and national legal efforts to protect cultural property: the 1970 UNESCO Convention, the United States, and Mexico’ (2003) 38 Texas International Law Journal 145 at 154–159.
50. See RS Schwartz ‘In Schultz we trust: the future of criminal prosecution for importers of illicit cultural property under the National Stolen Property Act’ (2003) 11 Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law 211.
51. See Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects, report of the Ministerial Advisory Panel (chaired by Professor Norman Palmer), London, Dec 2000 .
52. For detail on the UK implementation of the Convention, see K Chamberlain UK accession to the 1970 UNESCO Convention’ (2002) 7:3 Art Antiquity and Law 231.
53. See s 1 of The Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003.
54. See s 22 of the Theft Act 1968.
55. See s 24 of the Theft Act 1968.
56. See Chamberlain ‘UK Accession to the 1970 UNESCO Convention’ 232.
57. SC Resolution 1483, 22 May 2003 para 7.
58. SI 2003/1519. 12 June 2003.
59. See K Sykes ‘The trade in Iraqi antiquities: a conference held by the Institute of Art and Law-in association with Clyde and Co. London. 18 June 2003–report and commentary’ (2003) 8 Art Antiquity and Law 299 at 301.
60. Art Antiquity and Law 301–302.
61. HR 2009. 108th Congress, 7 May 2003.
62. See Minutes of the International conference on cultural property stolen in Iraq, comments on international initiatives to combat the traffic in Iraqi cultural property.
63. See Gibson ‘Cultural tragedy in Iraq’.
64. See Bogdanos Iraq museum investigation. 16.
65. See ‘Looted treasures “still in Iraq”’ BBC News 2 Oct 2003.
66. See A Crawford ‘Looted Iraqi artefacts “found in London”’ BBC News 7 Nov 2003.
67. See also House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee Cultural objects: developments since 2000, First report of session 2003–04. HC 59. 16 Dec 2003. para 66.
68. See s 49 of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. See also Art 18 of the Iraq (United Nations Sanctions) Order 2003.