So what is cultural property?
Cultural property can be defined as any moveable or immovable property of great importance to the cultural heritage of every person. These can include monuments of architecture or history, archaeological sites, works of art, and books or buildings containing cultural property! Cultural property is identifiable through the Blue Shield Emblem . Some real-life examples of cultural property include:
Sydney Opera House, Australia
The Great Wall of China
The Statue of Liberty, U.S.A.
The Stonehenge, England
You can find a more comprehensive list on the UNESCO World Heritage List
These properties are essential to people and their cultural histories. Attacking cultural property during the event of armed conflict isn’t simply an attack on bricks and wood, but rather an attack on a population’s culture or heritage. Destroying cultural property would be erasing their histories.
Why exactly is protecting cultural property so important?
Cultural property plays a significant role in helping to rebuild after the event of armed conflict.
The preservation of cultural property also helps to preserve the dignity of victims. Of armed conflict.
Preservation of cultural property also strengthens the resilience and reconciliation of groups after armed conflict.
Cultural property also plays a large role in understanding the diversity of this world and its history.
Protecting cultural property during the event of armed conflict is vital in order to protect people’s history, integrity, identity, and dignity. Cultural property also plays a big role in helping remediate the effects of armed conflict on populations.
How does IHL protect cultural property?
IHL protects cultural property by stating that armed forces cannot purposefully attack or use cultural property.
If the attack or the use of the cultural property is deemed a military necessity, meaning that it is actually necessary to accomplish a legitimate military purpose and not prohibited by IHL, then it isn’t considered a violation of IHL.
The violations of IHL are punishable.
Cultural property is distinguished during armed conflict through the blue shield emblem.