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Iraq: Protection of Cultural Property

Answer

The Government take very seriously the need to respect Iraq’s cultural heritage. As United Nations Security Council Resolution 1546 of June 2004 stressed, all parties need to respect and protect Iraq’s archaeological, historical, cultural and religious heritage. The Iraqi Ministry of Culture has begun implementation of an Archaeological Site Protection Plan and the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage is working to build an archaeological site patrol force to provide a guard force for cultural heritage sites.The 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict directs that combatants must avoid directing attacks against protected sites, unless there is a military imperative to do so. The UK is in the process of ratifying the convention and its two protocols. This process is still at an early stage and there have been no discussions with the Iraqi authorities relating to the convention. However, UK troops are already acting in accordance with the spirit of the convention.The UK is a signatory to the 1977 Additional Protocol (AP 1) of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which requires that civilian objects are to be protected from attack, unless that object is being used for military purposes; in which case it may lose its special protected status. UK forces in Iraq have strict instructions not to fire on cultural sites such as mosques and heritage sites, as well as important economic and social infrastructure properties, unless these sites are being used for militarily offensive purposes.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

1658; 674 c178-9WA

Session

2005-06

Subjects

Armed forces Cultural heritage Archaeological sites Iraq Protection Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk