Britain now has to decide how to implement the 1954 Hague Convention, which protects cultural property in the event of armed conflict. Although the treaty is over five decades old, the UK only decided to ratify it last year.
Last month culture minister David Lammy stressed the convention’s importance, pointing to recent examples of damage during armed conflict: the 1991 siege of Dubrovnik (see p.4), the 1993 destruction of the Bridge of Mostar, and the 2003 burning of the National Library and looting of the National Museum in Baghdad.
Under the Hague Convention, armed action is prohibited against cultural property, unless the site is being used for military purposes. Cultural sites can be identified with a “blue shield” badge affixed near their entrance, emphasising their protected status. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has now launched a consultation exercise on implementation of the convention.
A key question is which sites should be protected. One answer would be to cast the net wide, and include the UK’s 500,000 listed buildings, 20,000 scheduled ancient monuments, 8,500 conservation areas, 4,600 libraries and 2,500 museums. DCMS argues that this would be counterproductive: “An enemy confronted with a multitude of protected sites would be unable to direct its operations via the least important obstacles and would probably have to resort to claiming military necessity to achieve its goals.”
The government therefore proposes that only cultural property of “great importance” should be protected under the Hague Convention. It suggests it apply to six categories: listed buildings of Grade I status or equivalent (10,650 buildings; historic parks and gardens of Grade I status in England (126 sites); UK World Heritage Sites of cultural importance (22 sites); collections of national museums or equivalent (30 museums); collections of museums with designated status (72 museums); and the national record offices and five legal deposit libraries (eight institutions).
DCMS is also proposing that it should be up to individual sites whether they wish to affix a “blue shield” to their main entrance, as a warning to military forces of their protected status. Comments on the consultation paper are being sought by 2 December.
The UK, as a highly protected island state, is very unlikely to be invaded, and the nature of warfare has changed considerably since 1954, so the listing of British sites of cultural importance may appear unnecessary. However, the convention puts additional legal constraints on UK troops overseas, thereby helping to ensure that they do not damage sites abroad. International conventions which are widely ratified are also more likely to be observed.
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as 'How to protect British sites from the destruction of war'