Palmyra recaptured: restoration begins

Syrian troops recaptured Palmyra from the Islamic State last week, at the close of three weeks of intense fighting. The ancient city had been occupied by the jihadists since May 2015.

A Syrian Army soldier on patrol near the Great Colonnade in Palmyra
(Image: TASS / Barcroft Media)

Palmyra, known as the “pearl of the desert”, is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site and was one of the most important cultural centres of antiquity. At the crossroads of several civilisations, its art and architecture combines Graeco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences. The ancient city counts among its losses the 2,000 year-old Temple of Bel, the shrine of Baal Shamin, the Arch of Triumph dating from around 200AD, and its head of antiquities, Khaled al-Assaad, who was killed for refusing to reveal to the jihadists where valuable artefacts had been hidden for safekeeping. Some sites, such as the Roman amphitheatre, were preserved for use in the Islamic State’s public executions.

The Syrian Army also discovered that the IS had planted at least 150 mines scattered around the historic quarter and residential area of Palmyra, where many of the city's most famous ruins are, as they had retreated from the city.

Nonetheless, the mood was jubilant. President Bashar al-Assad hailed the victory as an "important achievement" and declared his intention to rebuild the city: "Palmyra was demolished more than once through the centuries ... and we will restore it anew so it will be a treasure of cultural heritage for the world."

Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s head of antiquities and museums, told AFP: “We were expecting the worst. But the landscape, in general, is in good shape. 'We could have completely lost Palmyra. The joy I feel is indescribable”. Some news sources report that no greater damage was inflicted as the result of a secret talks between Islamic State and the Syrian authorities, who warned of the dangers of sparking a popular uprising with their activities.

Abdulkarim suggested that “if we have UNESCO's approval, we will need five years to restore the structures damaged or destroyed by IS”. Whilst doubt has been cast by one UN expert over how realistic this timeframe is, work has already begun. Russia intends to send explosives experts and robots to help remove the mines, and is working with UNESCO to send a mission of experts to assess the damage and begin the task of restoration. Abdulkarim has promised a blueprint for reconstruction by next month: “We will assess how much damage the stones suffered and we will re-use them in order to scientifically put back the temples…we have the plans and the images and we will rebuild the missing portions until the temples of Bel and Baalshamin are rebuilt.”

Experts call on UK government to sign the 1954 Hague Convention this year

Members of the House of Lords and leading cultural heritage experts are lobbying the UK government to ratify the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (the ‘Hague Convention’) in light of reports of extensive destruction and trafficking in cultural heritage property in Syria and Iraq by the Islamic State. As the only Permanent Member of the United Nations Security Council not to have signed, the government is being urged to deliver on its pledge last year to sign ‘at the first opportunity’ in a renewed campaign led by the UK National Committee of the Blue Shield. 

Hague Convention

The Hague Convention was the first international treaty aimed at protecting cultural heritage in the context of war and which highlighted the concept of common heritage. It was adopted in 1954 in response to the widespread damage and looting of cultural property during World War II. 

The Convention requires states parties to prepare during peacetime for the safeguarding of cultural property against the foreseeable effects of armed conflict, and to respect cultural property situated within their territory as well as in other states. This includes undertaking to prohibit any form of theft, pillage or misappropriation of cultural property, and refraining from reprisals against such property. If occupying another state, states parties should support the competent national authorities in preserving its cultural property. 

The Convention also specifies a protective emblem to facilitate the identification of protected cultural property during armed conflict, known as the Blue Shield. A triple use of that sign designates exceptionally important cultural property under special protection. This led to the creation of the International Committee of the Blue Shield, which works to protect the world's cultural heritage threatened by wars and natural disasters and is described as the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross.

The Blue Shield symbol near a staff entrance at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
(Photo: Corine Wegener/Getty Conservation Institute)

Ratification by the UK government 

The UK remains ‘arguably the most significant military power’ and the only one with extensive military involvements abroad not to have ratified the Hague Convention, according to the UK Blue Shield. Its fellow Permanent Members on the Security Council have already done so - Russia in 1957, China in 2000, France in 1957, and the US in 2009.

The UK government has appeared close to ratifying the Convention on many occasions since 1954, announcing its commitment in 2004 after the adoption of the Second Protocol in 1999 (which the UK was involved in negotiating) addressed their concerns over the Convention’s shortcomings. A draft Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill was even published in January 2008, but it progressed no further despite only minor modifications being required. The UK government again announced plans to ratify ‘at the first opportunity’ in June 2015, and in January 2016 the Minister of State for Culture Ed Vaizey declared the government’s ‘firm commitment’ to introduce new legislation enabling ratification of the Convention and its two Protocols ‘at the earliest opportunity’.

The government has tiptoed around committing to a firm deadline for signing the Convention, choosing instead to focus attention on ad hoc cultural heritage initiatives. At the end of last year it announced £30m of funding for the establishment of the Cultural Protection Fund, which is intended to fund a team of local experts to stabilise afflicted sites in Iraq, and begin the process of reconstructing and preserving cultural artefacts. The Army has declared its intention to recruit a team of ‘Monuments Men’ - specialists who will deploy to warzones alongside commanders to advise on how to locate, protect and save cultural riches in the area they are fighting.

However, with no real framework or commitment in place for protecting cultural heritage in wartime, the UK’s ‘dithering’ over the Hague Convention has been described as “pathetic – it leaves Britain looking shamefully inept”. In a House of Lords debate on 14 January reported by the Art Newspaper, Baroness Andrews stated that there is a ‘growing sense of urgency’ to sign the Convention following ‘grotesque failures in Iraq’ and ‘increasing barbarity in Syria’. With cross-party support - including from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport; the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; the Department for Overseas Development; and the Ministry of Defence - it is hard to understand the UK government’s reluctance to ratify. If it is part of a blanket policy to avoid ratifying any of the UNESCO cultural heritage protection treaties - including the 1970 Convention on illicit trafficking, whose Secretariat has offered on several occasions to mediate in the UK's ongoing Parthenon marbles dispute with the Greek government - then it is looking like an increasingly difficult position to defend.

The UK Blue Shield urges supporters to write to their MP using the template which can be found here. More information on the UK Blue Shield’s campaign can be found at http://ukblueshield.org.uk/ or by contacting Philip Deans at p.deans@newcastle.ac.uk.

Further information about the Hague Convention, its Protocols and the work of the International Committee of the Blue Shield can be found on the UNESCO website here.

Cultural heritage destruction prosecuted as a war crime for the first time: Islamist militant appears before ICC

In the first case of its kind, an alleged Islamist militant accused of destroying ancient monuments in Mali appeared last week at the International Criminal Court (ICC) charged with damaging humanity’s cultural heritage. It is the first time cultural heritage destruction has been prosecuted as a war crime; the ICC has traditionally focused on atrocities committed against individuals.

Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi appears at the ICC in the Hague, Netherlands (Image: Robin van Lonkhuijsen/AFP/Getty Images)

Charges

Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi is charged with war crimes of directing attacks against historic religious monuments and buildings, including nine mausoleums and one mosque in Timbuktu, Mali.

Al Mahdi, from the Ansar Tuareg tribe, was allegedly an active personality in the context of the occupation of Timbuktu, a ‘zealous member’ of Ansar Dine, a Tuareg extremist militia with links to al-Qaeda, and the head of the Hesbah (known as the ‘Manners' Brigade’), which enforced strict Islamist law in Timbuktu during civil unrest in Mali in 2012 and 2013. He is also charged with implementing the hardline Sharia law rulings of the so-called Islamic Court of Timbuktu, in particular the destruction of the nine mausoleums and the Sidi Yahia mosque.

The situation in Mali was referred to the ICC by Mali’s government in 2012, and following an investigation a warrant for Al Mahdi’s arrest was issued in September 2015. Al Mahdi was arrested by the authorities of Niger and handed over to the ICC shortly afterwards.


Timbuktu’s cultural heritage

Timbuktu, a UNESCO World Heritage site known as the ‘city of 333 saints’, was an intellectual and spiritual capital and a centre for the propagation of Islam throughout Africa in the 15th and 16th centuries. The mausoleums of Timbuktu have long been pilgrimage destinations for the people of Mali and neighbouring countries. As shrines to Timbuktu's founding fathers, who were venerated as saints by most of the city's inhabitants, they were widely believed to protect the city from danger. But fundamentalists considered this practice blasphemous. Of the city’s 16 mausoleums, some dating as far back as the 13th century, 14 were destroyed during Ansar Dine’s occupation of the city in 2012, along with mosques and approximately 4,000 ancient manuscripts.

Destruction of mausoleums and mosques during Timbuktu’s occupation (Image: AFP)

What next?

Following the defendant’s appearance before the Pre-Trial Chamber last week, a hearing is scheduled for 18 January 2016, where the Court will determine whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed to a full trial.

This case is a watershed moment in the field of cultural heritage protection, and it has been suggested that the Court consider investigating the Islamic State's destruction of ancient archaeological sites in Palmyra. However, as neither Iraq nor Syria is a member of the ICC, the Court is unable to intervene without a mandate from the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile an initiative to reconstruct Timbuktu’s mausoleums led by the Malian government, UNESCO and international partners is nearing completion. “Here we have our response to extremism,” said UNESCO’s Director-General, “an example of the successful integration of culture in peace building and we must continue along this road.”

Reconstruction of Timbuktu’s mausoleums nears completion (Image: CRAterre/Thierry Joffroy)

The ICC’s case information sheet for The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi can be found here.

More information on Timbuktu’s cultural heritage can be found on the UNESCO World Heritage Site page here.

Greece rules out legal action to recover Elgin Marbles

As reported by Jeremy, the Greek government publicly stated this week that it would not be pursuing restitution of the Elgin Marbles through international courts, despite being advised by their high-profile British legal team that it is a “now or never” opportunity.  

The Greek culture minister Nikos Xydakis told Greece’s Mega TV: "One cannot go to court over whatever issue. Besides, in international courts the outcome is uncertain", adding “the road to reclaiming the return of the sculptures is diplomatic and political.” The Greek government would instead switch to “low-key, persistent work” to effect the Marbles’ return to Athens.

The comments came 48 hours after a 148-page report prepared by Geoffrey Robertson QC, Norman Palmer QC and Amal Clooney was presented to the Greek government, urging it to consider legal action against the British Museum through the International Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. 

Elgin Marbles east pediment (Image: Andrew Dunn/Wikimedia)

Background to the report

The Greek government has made longstanding appeals for the return of the controversial Elgin Marbles, the sculptures removed by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon in the early 1800s that, following their purchase by the British Government in 1816, became part of the British Museum’s collection. 

The dossier, commissioned following a high-profile visit to Athens by the team of lawyers last October, is reported by the Independent to make a compelling case for the Greek government to pursue legal action and sets out which steps needed to be taken. “The British adhere to international law…The Greek government has never taken advantage of this Achilles’ heel,” the report is quoted as saying. “You must take legal action now or you may lose the opportunity to do so due to future legal obstacles.”

The report proposes first making a formal request for the Marbles’ return, then lodging a claim at the International Court of Justice. If the Court were to refuse jurisdiction, an approach should be made to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). A “75-80 per cent chance” of success is estimated if an international court accepts jurisdiction, and the report cites a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling which forced Thailand to return sculptures removed from the Preah Vihear temple in Cambodia. The advice also suggests the case would also be looked upon favourably under the European Convention on Human Rights.

One possible future obstacle is the new Conservative government’s election pledge to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998 and to consider making Strasbourg judgments non-binding on UK courts. The new Culture Secretary, John Whittingdale, has also previously made clear that he supports the British Museum in the dispute.

Reaction

Despite such obstacles, the Greek government’s comments have been somewhat unexpected. Alexis Tsipras, the Greek prime minister, led far-left Syriza to power in January on the back of nationalist sentiment and declared his intention to secure the return of the Elgin Marbles. In March Mr Xydakis responded to the British Museum’s refusal to consider mediation by condemning British “negativism” and “lack of respect for the role of mediators”. Furthermore, a considerable amount of goodwill has been generated by recent efforts (not least Amal Clooney’s highly-publicised involvement in the matter), with public opinion in the UK also supporting the return of the Elgin Marbles to Athens.

It has been speculated that the Greek volte-face is the result of pressure from the EU and IMF over Greece’s massive debts and the looming possibility of an exit from the eurozone. However, the report was funded by a third party, and there have been several offers to assist in funding any legal action. It remains to be seen whether the Greek government will follow any of the report’s recommendations. For now this development counts as a major victory for supporters of the British Museum, but it is evident that the dispute is nowhere near its conclusion. 

Elgin Marbles: British Museum rejects UNESCO mediation process

UNESCO and the Greek government have made longstanding appeals to the UK to enter into mediation over the possible return of the controversial ‘Elgin Marbles’, the sculptures removed by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon in the early 1800s that, following their purchase by the British Government in 1816, became part of the British Museum’s collection. This week the British Museum wrote an open letter to UNESCO declining to participate in mediation, but suggesting that it was open to a possible ‘joint venture’ with the Acropolis Museum.

British Museum’s letter to UNESCO

Justifying its rejection of UNESCO’s offer to mediate, the British Museum argued that the matter fell outside UNESCO’s mandate to ‘preserve and safeguard endangered cultural heritage’. Since the surviving Parthenon sculptures are “carefully preserved in a number of European museums”, they “clearly do not fall into this category".

Secondly, the letter suggested that the UNESCO-facilitated mediation only concerns intergovernmental disputes, whilst the British Museum “is not a government body, and the collections do not belong to the British Government.” It was expressed that any collaborative ventures with Greek institutions would "not [be] on a government-to-government basis".

The letter reminded UNESCO that the British Museum has ‘routinely lent to Greece’, and enjoys ‘excellent collaborative relationships with Greek museums and universities’. Sidestepping the long-running debate over the legality of Lord Elgin’s actions, the British Museum stated that the Elgin Marbles are held “for the benefit of the world public, present and future”, and invited the Museum’s Greek counterparts “to explore new ways of enabling the whole world to see, study and enjoy the sculptures of the Parthenon.”

The letter promoted the British Museum’s current exhibition ‘Defining Beauty: the Body in Greek Art’ as an example of the ‘great public benefit’ of inter-museum loans. Meanwhile, the controversial loan of one of the Parthenon sculptures to Russia at the end of last year - which at the time had provoked a furious reaction from the Greek government – was described enthusiastically as ‘Russia’s first glimpse of the splendours of fifth-century Athens’.

The ‘Ilissos’ from the Parthenon on display in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, 6 December 2014 – 18 January 2015 (British Museum)

British Government’s letter to UNESCO

A second letter addressed to UNESCO, sent on the same date and signed by the UK Culture Minister Ed Vaizey, adopted a markedly different tone. 

The letter made explicitly clear that the Elgin Marbles were ‘legally acquired by Lord Elgin under the laws pertaining at the time” and thus the British Museum possessed “clear legal title to the sculptures since 1816". The letter asserted that "neither the British Government nor the British Museum are aware of any new arguments to the contrary since 1985, when a formal Greek request for the return of the sculptures was turned down".

The British Government also called out what it saw as Greece’s intent to deny the British Museum’s right of ownership during the mediation process, and added that legislation limits the British Museum from de-accessioning objects in their collections. 

Reaction 

The Greek government responded by issuing a statement “deploring” the British Museum’s refusal to enter mediation, adding: "British negativism is overwhelming, along with its lack of respect for the role of mediators". It has been suggested that the UK’s refusal to join the mediation process could result in legal action by the Greek government in an international court to reclaim the ancient sculptures.

Meanwhile the chairman of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, Eddie O’Hara, said that the British Museum “plays the game of offering a loan because they know the Greeks would never accept a loan”.  Any agreement involving the loan of the Elgin Marbles would require recognition of the British Museum’s right of legal ownership and a promise to return the sculptures.

UK polls have consistently showed strong support in Britain for returning the sculptures: an opinion poll conducted by YouGov in October 2014 showed that only 23% of the British public thought the Marbles should stay in Britain. 

Unfortunately, the public's appetite for change has not been reflected at a political level. An early day motion tabled earlier this month in the House of Commons urged the British Government to act to “reunite these British-held Parthenon sculptures with those now displayed in the purpose-built Acropolis Museum in the shadow of the monument to which they belong, the Parthenon”. It garnered a mere 20 signatures out of a possible 455.

Islamic State steps up its destruction of Iraqi cultural heritage

Guest blogger Marian Ang, trainee solicitor at Olswang and previously of UNESCO, has kindly written this blog on UNESCO's calls for protected cultural zones in Iraq: 

It has been reported that the Islamic State has stepped up its ‘purge’ of Iraq’s cultural sites over the past month, most recently in Mosul – Iraq’s second city and the largest city currently controlled by the extremists.

Considering ‘culture, civilization and science as their fierce enemies’, IS’s occupation of the city has seen the destruction of dozens of historic sites holding meaning for Jews, Christians, and Muslims alike, including the ancient Nineveh wall, the Citadel Church and the mosques and tombs of the prophets Seth and Jonah. Mosul Museum is now reported to be under the control of IS, with the museum’s prized collection of art and antiquities facing destruction or sale on the black market. Numerous reports point to IS using the looting and trafficking of such antiquities to fund their campaign.

Most recently, Mosul’s Central Library had around 2,000 items, including maps and books dating from the Ottoman Empire, seized and allegedly burned for promoting ‘infidelity’ and ‘disobeying Allah’. Whilst during the Iraq War residents near the Central Library secreted away centuries-old manuscripts to prevent their looting or destruction, IS has declared the penalty for such actions death.

Meanwhile UNESCO has called the protection of cultural heritage in Iraq and Syria ‘a security imperative’, and suggested that protected cultural zones around heritage sites could be created through a ‘bottom up plan of action’, built on locals’ increasing aversion to the violence, bloodshed and suffering. The meeting of 500 delegates at Paris headquarters in December also called for implementation of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its protocols, as well to end impunity against deliberate attacks on cultural heritage, which is a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Read more here and here. 

Read more about UNESCO's call for protected cultural zones in Iraq and Syria here.