On the effectiveness of the Hague Convention in protecting Cultural Property

Currently the principle piece of international legislation on Cultural Property Protection (CPP) is the Hague Convention (1954) along with its first (1954) and second (1999) protocols (Stone 2013: 166). The original Convention was guided by the principles of the Washington Pact of 1935 and built on the recognition that, during World War II, a huge amount of CP had “suffered grave damage during recent armed conflicts and that, by reason of the developments in the technique of warfare, [cultural properties are] in increasing danger of destruction” (UNESCO 1954). The clear intention of the Convention was “to ensure that such losses of cultural heritage during war would never again occur” (Wegener & Otter 2008). It gave a wide definition of CP, covering anything from large buildings and archaeological sites to individual artefacts, books, archives and artworks; anything that is important in some way to the cultural heritage of every person.

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