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Enhanced Protection

“Enhanced protection” is a mechanism established by the 1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. It aims to ensure full and effective protection of specifically designated cultural property during international or non-international armed conflicts.

Cultural property under enhanced protection benefits from high level immunity which requires the parties to a conflict to refrain from making such property the object of attack or from any use of the property or its immediate surroundings to support military action. In case where individuals do not respect the enhanced protection granted to a cultural property, criminal sanctions have been laid down by the 1999 Second Protocol.

As of today, twelve cultural properties were inscribed on the List of Cultural Property under Enhanced Protection.

To ensure the recognition and identification of cultural property under enhanced protection, particularly during the conduct of hostilities, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the provisions of the 1999 Second Protocol and, more particularly, to contribute to the effectiveness of Article 12 of the 1999 Second Protocol on the “Immunity of cultural property under enhanced protection”, the following distinctive emblem was established by the Sixth Meeting of the States Parties.

 

Eligibility for Enhanced Protection

Any cultural property as defined in Article 1 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict is eligible for enhanced protection, provided that it complies with the three conditions set forth in Article 10 of the Second Protocol:

  1. The cultural property must be of the greatest importance for humanity;
  2. The cultural property must be protected by adequate domestic legal and administrative measures recognizing its exceptional cultural and historic value and ensuring the highest level of protection;
  3. The cultural property must not be used for military purposes or to shield military sites.

Only a State Party to the 1999 Second Protocol that has jurisdiction or control over the cultural property may submit a request for enhanced protection to the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

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