Page 54 - karabag raporu eng

On-Site Investigation Report on Human Rights in Karabakh

c) centres containing a large amount of cultural property as defined in
sub-paragraphs (a) and (b), to be known as “centres containing mon-
uments”.
With the aforementioned Convention, it is regulated that cultural proper-
ties should be protected, including during the war period and occupation
and that the said properties should be respected. In this context, theft, loot-
ing, or smuggling of cultural assets in any way, and any acts of destruction
against them are prohibited. Armenia and Azerbaijan have also been parties
to the Convention since 1993. In order to strengthen the Convention, the
nd
Additional 2 Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of
Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was prepared in 1999 and
entered into force in 2004.

Article 9 of the Additional Protocol is about the Protection of Cultural Prop-
erty in Occupied Territory, and “any alteration to, or change of use of, cultur-
al property which is intended to conceal or destroy cultural, historical, or
scientific evidence” are among the prohibited issues. In addition, it is stat-
ed that the individual criminal responsibility arising from the national and
international law of people who commit serious violations of the Protocol
cannot be eliminated.
Article 38 of the Customary Rules of International Humanitarian Law pub-
lished by ICRC is about cultural property, and it states that special care must
be taken in military operations to avoid damage to buildings dedicated to
religion, art, science, education, or charitable purposes and historic monu-
ments unless they are military objectives.

In the same article, it is stated that the Statute of the International Criminal
Court insists that deliberate attacks on the buildings and historical monu-
ments in question, unless they are military targets, constitute a war crime in
international and non-international armed conflicts. It was added that attacks
on such property were condemned by States, the UN, and other international
organisations, as in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Korea, between Iran and
Iraq, in the Middle East and the Former Yugoslavia. As stated in the aforemen-
tioned rule, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court considers
it a war crime to deliberately attack buildings used for religious, educational,
artistic, scientific, or charity purposes, historical monuments, hospitals, and
places where the sick and wounded gather, provided that they are not for mili-
tary purposes. Therefore, the Court has jurisdiction over these crimes.
In the 2001 UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, it is stated
that the defence of cultural diversity is an ethical imperative, inseparable

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