On Friday 28 Jan 2000, UNESCO launched a major enhancement of the
Cultural Heritage coverage on its web site, including reports on the
Diplomatic Conference of March 1999 which reviewed the international law
on cultural protection in times of war, (the Hague Convention on the
Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, 1954.)
The Conference, held in The Hague,drew up a Second Protocol to the
Convention which aims to greatly enhance the protection of the cultural
heritage during both conventional wars and internal armed conflicts, and
the ability of States to pursue violators for war crimes in this area.
The newly updated web site gives the latest position on signatories (now up
to 33 States), while Ratifications and Accessions to the original 1954
Hague Convention has now risen to 97).
In relation to the Second Protocol, in addition to the full text of the
new legal measure (which has been available for around nine months), the
web site now has the following major additions:
1. List of Signatory States
2. Final Act of the March 1999 Diplomatic Conference (amongst other
things recognising the International Committee of the Blue Shield and the
four constituent professional NGOs - ICA, IFLA, ICOM & ICOMOS)
3. Resolutions of the Diplomatic Conference
Declarations (i.e. reservations: by Belgium, in relation to its Federal
structure and the implementation of treaties, and by Israel, expressing the
view that the Conference should have proceeded by means of amending the
original 1954 Convention rather than by means of an additional Instrument)
4. Summary Report of the Diplomatic Conference
5. A detailed day-by-day precis of the proceedings of the Diplomatic
Conference. This includes in the record of the final day, Friday 26 March,
a fair summary of the debate on the only major recommendation (included in
the earlier drafts) that was lost - the proposal that accredited "Blue
Shield" and other archive, library, monuments & sites, or museum workers
to be given the same right to respect and assistance that the 1977 Geneva
Additional Protocols accords to recognised NGOs giving humanitarian
assistance.
The easiest entry point to the various web documents now added (and to
e.g. the text of the Second Protocol itself is through the Legal
Protection heading within the Culture sub-site of UNESCO:
http://www.unesco.org/culture/legalprotection/index.html
Patrick Boylan
(Head of Blue Shield Delegation accredited to the Diplomatic Conference)
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