1954 Hague Convention

The Convention

The Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (The Hague-Netherlands, 1954)

In the wake of massive destruction of the cultural heritage in the Second World War, this convention is the first international agreement focusing exclusively on the protection of cultural heritage. It is often referred to as The 1954 Hague Convention.

The Convention was adopted together with the Protocol which is specific to movables and prohibits the export of cultural property from occupied territory and requires the return of such property to the territory of the State from which it was removed. The Protocol also expressly forbids the appropriation of cultural property as war reparation. There were 105 States Parties to this Convention as of 26 March 2003, 83 of which are also Parties to the Protocol.

What is it?

The Convention covers immovables and movables, including monuments of architecture, art or history, archaeological sites, works of art, manuscripts, books and other objects of artistic, historical or archaeological interest, as well as scientific collections of all kinds.

The States which are party to the Convention have undertaken to lessen the consequences of armed conflict for cultural heritage and to:

• Take preventive measures for such protection not only in time of hostility (when it is usually too late), but also in time of peace,
• Bound to safeguard and respect cultural property during armed conflict (this obligation also applies in conflicts of a non-international character),
• Set up mechanisms for protection (nomination of Commissioners-General for Cultural Property and inscription of specially protected sites, monuments or refuges of movable cultural objects in the International Register of Cultural Property under Special Protection),
• Mark certain important buildings and monuments with a special protective emblem,
• Create special units within the military forces to be responsible for the protection of cultural heritage.

The Convention was adopted together with the Protocol which prohibits the export of cultural property from occupied territory and requires the return of such property to the territory of the State from which it was removed. The Protocol also expressly forbids the appropriation of cultural property as war reparation.

Barbaric acts committed against cultural property in the course of the many conflicts that took place at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s highlighted a number of deficiencies in the implementation of the Hague Convention. A review of the Convention was initiated in 1991 to draw up a new agreement to improve the Convention taking account of the experience gained from conflicts and the development of international humanitarian and cultural heritage protection law since 1954. Consequently, a Second Protocol to the Hague Convention was adopted at a Diplomatic Conference held at The Hague in March 1999.

The Second Protocol further elaborates the provisions of the Convention relating to respect for cultural property and the conduct of hostilities, thereby providing greater protection than before. Thus it creates a new category of enhanced protection for cultural heritage that is particularly important for humankind, enjoys proper legal protection at national level and is not used for military purposes. It also specifies the sanctions to be imposed for serious violations of cultural property and defines the conditions in which individual criminal responsibility shall apply. Finally, it establishes a twelve-member Intergovernmental Committee to oversee the implementation of the Convention and the Second Protocol.

For more information

This text is taken from the UNESCO website which contains more official text and documents: http://www.unesco.org/ select the language of your choice and then the theme culture http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=18067&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

More practical information regarding the national application of this convention can be obtained from the national trade associations, which can be accessed through this website or from the CINOA secretariat.