Peter Rebernik on Sun, 18 Apr 1999 20:53:36 +0200 |
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Syndicate: Fw: CULTURAL PROTECTION IN WAR - WAS: Kosovo's historic sites |
Is there any other information on your side about the destruction of national heritage? +-------------------------------------------------------------------- | PHAROS International - Bureau for Cultural Projects | Peter Rebernik, Dipl.-Ing. | Anton Baumgartner-Str. 44/C2/3/2 | A - 1230 Wien / AUSTRIA | Tel.: (+43 1) 667 7375 | Fax: (+43 1) 667 2984 | Mobiltel.: (+43 664) 230 2767 | Email: peter@rebernik.at / Web: www.rebernik.at +-------------------------------------------------------------------- -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Boylan P <P.Boylan@CITY.AC.UK> Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l An: MUSEUM-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM <MUSEUM-L@HOME.EASE.LSOFT.COM> Datum: Sonntag, 18. April 1999 19:34 Betreff: CULTURAL PROTECTION IN WAR - WAS: Kosovo's historic sites >On Fri, 16 Apr 1999, Beltz, Jennifer wrote: > >> I have noticed several messages in recent days which refer to the >> destruction of historic buildings and museums as a result of the ongoing >> conflict in Kosovo. If you haven't already done so, you may want to refer >> to the April 15th Washington Post editorial by Rep. Rod Blagojevich which >> calls for a diplomatic agreement that, among other things, would protect as >> many of Kosovo's sacred Orthodox cathedrals and historic places as possible. > >============================= > >I despair in the face of such ignorance on the part of law-makers and the >press, since there ARE, of course, precisely such agreements! > >This principle has been part of US Army General Staff Orders since the >Civil War, reinforced by the updating of these by Gen. Eisenhower >in 1944 and the US adoption of the Treaty of Washington (Roerich Pact) of >1935. At the international level, the principle of protecting historic >and religious monuments, museums, libraries and archives has been part of the >general and universal Customary Laws of War since the 1899 and 1907 Hague >Conventions. > >There has also been a specific cultural protection treaty provision since >1954 - the Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the >Event of Armed Conflict (which also covers non-international conflicts). >Though certain major powers including the USA and UK signed the 1954 >Hague Convention but then did not proceed with ratification due to "Cold >War" considerations, both have always applied its provisions at the >military operations level, and both are now actively seeking formal >ratification. (In the US case, the instrument of ratification was sent by >the President to the Senate for approval in January 1999 - something I >would have expected a member of the House of Representatives specially >interested in this area to have been aware of). > >A significant strengthening of the 1954 Hague Convention through an >additional 2nd Protocol was prepared at a Diplomatic Conference in the >The Hague again through the second half of March 1999, and will be >formally signed by up to 85 States in The Hague on 17 May (and as one of >the high points of a week of special events marking the centenary of the >first Hague Peace Conference). > >It is well known that in the case of the Gulf War, in order to comply with >relevant international law the coalition powers carried out extensive >"desk" research, consultations with relevant experts and much special >reconnaissance to identify significant cultural monuments and institutions. > >These were then placed "off limits" for both air attacks and the ground >campaign that followed it. Even when the Iraqi authorities placed MIG >aircraft within the walls of the ancient City of Ur, and anti-aircraft >batteries on the walls of another, (negating their protection under >international law) the Coalition refused to respond to attack these >weapons. > >Though I have no seen any specific information on this point in relation >to the current NATO campaign against Serbia yet, it seems to me virtually >certain that parallel procedures and explicit orders will have been in >place since long before the start of the air attacks on Yugoslavia. > >Incidentally, though Jennifer refers to reports of the "destruction" of >monuments and museums in the Kosovo campaign, there do not seem to have >been any authenticated evidence of direct attacks on or "destruction" of >significant monuments or museums even in the Yugoslavs' own announcements >and web site (www.yuheritage.com). The nearest to this seems to be the >late 1920s Danube bridge at Novi Sad (which may have been on the national >monuments list as an engineering structure?). All the other reports seem >to be of blast etc. damage (e.g. the extensive loss of the external glass >walls of the Novi Sad Museum close to the bridge referred to above). > >This is not to say that there will not be much so-called "collateral" >damage to historic monuments and other cultural buildings in the current >military activities, but so far there seems to have been nothing in >anyway comparable to the massive deliberate targeting, destruction and >demolition of hundreds of monuments in e.g. the Eastern Slavonia and >Konavle-Dubrovnik regions of Croatia in 1991-2 by the Yugoslav and >Montenegran Armies, or in Bosnia in 1992-95 by both official and >irregular forces of all three communities. > > >Patrick Boylan > ------Syndicate mailinglist-------------------- Syndicate network for media culture and media art information and archive: http://www.v2.nl/east/ to unsubscribe, write to <syndicate-request@aec.at> in the body of the msg: unsubscribe your@email.adress