Protecting Cultural Heritage: The Ties between People and Places

The chapter examines the destruction of immovable cultural heritage through the lens of human rights and argues that the meaning of cultural heritage must be evaluated from the perspectives of the international, regional, national, and local communities. It briefly summarizes applicable international legal instruments and the categorization of cultural heritage destruction within the rubric of mass atrocity crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The discussion then turns to the emerging norm of the responsibility to protect (R2P), analyzing in particular the potential applicability of R2P’s third pillar to the preservation of immovable heritage. Four elements are evaluated from the perspective of legitimacy and feasibility: military intervention, criminal responsibility, involvement of nonstate actors, and the safeguarding of cultural heritage. The chapter concludes that involving local communities and nonstate actors in preservation and protection efforts is likely to be more successful than a top-down approach that focuses primarily on the interests of states and intergovernmental organizations