Cultural Cleansing and Mass Atrocities: Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict Zones
By THOMAS G. WEISS AND NINA CONNELLY
J. PAUL GETTY TRUST OCCASIONAL PAPERS IN CULTURAL HERITAGE POLICY
NUMBER 1, 2017
In December 2016, with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the J. Paul Getty Trust
convened a meeting at the British Academy, London, to discuss an international framework
for the protection of cultural heritage in zones of armed conflict. Our timing was compelled
by the purposeful destruction of cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq, and by the recent conviction
of Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi by the International Criminal Court for the war crime of
attacking historic and religious buildings in Timbuktu.
Three months later, in March 2017, the United Nations Security Council passed resolution
2347, which condemned the “unlawful destruction of cultural heritage, and the looting of
cultural property in the event of armed conflicts, notably by terrorist groups and the attempt
to deny historical roots and cultural diversity in this context can fuel and exacerbate conflict
and hamper post-conflict national reconciliation.” The resolution gave formal, international
attention to the protection of cultural heritage and its links to cultural cleansing.
Then, in October 2017, with Thomas G. Weiss and at the invitation of Simon Adams,
executive director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, I spoke at a meeting
at UN headquarters in New York on the issue of “Protecting Cultural Heritage from
Terrorism and Mass Atrocities: Links and Common Responsibilities.” The meeting was
hosted by, among others, Angelino Alfano, minister of foreign affairs and international
cooperation, Italy; Frederica Mogherini, high representative from the European Union; Irina
Bokova, director-general of UNESCO; and Simon Adams. The consensus of the meeting
was that cultural heritage is worthy of protection, not only because it represents the rich and
diverse legacy of human artistic and engineering ingenuity, but also because it is intertwined
with the very survival of a people as a source of collective identity and the revitalization of
civil society and economic vitality postconflict.
All of this inspired the launch of the J. Paul Getty Trust Occasional Papers in Cultural
Heritage Policy. This paper, the first in the series, addresses the threats to cultural heritage
in armed conflict zones and the connection between cultural heritage and cultural cleansing,
mass atrocities, and the destruction of cultural heritage.
This publication has been funded by the President’s International Council, J. Paul Getty
Trust. Our thanks go to the authors, Thomas G. Weiss and Nina Connelly, and to the working
group with whom we have been discussing these questions for more than a year, especially
Simon Adams, Lloyd Axworthy, Vishakha Desai, Hugh Eakin, Karl Eikenberry, Jonathan
Fanton, Richard Goldstone, Sunil Khilnani, Edward C. Luck, Luis Monreal, and Tim Whalen.
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