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Conference to examine international law protecting archaeological sites, artifacts during wartime

Cultural Policy Center co-organizes Feb. 3 conference
‘Protecting Cultural Heritage: International Law after the War in Iraq’

CHICAGO —Upon the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, news accounts described in grim detail how Iraq 's National Museum was pillaged while American forces stood yards away and did nothing. An epidemic of profit-driven plundering at archaeological sites erupted throughout the country, and continues to this day—even as coalition forces build an airbase atop Babylon and dig trenches through ancient buried cities.

The Iraq war has exposed serious shortcomings in the international legal framework built over the last century to prevent the looting and destruction of cultural property in times of war. In February, experts and officials in international law, cultural heritage, and government will convene at the University of Chicago for a conference to examine existing legal provisions and to explore ways to strengthen them.

The conference, "Protecting Cultural Heritage: International Law after the War in Iraq," will be open to the public 3-5 p.m., February 3, 2006 , at the University of Chicago Law School, the Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom, 1111 East 60th Street, Chicago. Registration is free but required to reserve a seat. To register, visit http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu or call 773.702.4407 . The conference is organized by the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago , in collaboration with The Oriental Institute and The University of Chicago Law Schoo l.

Organizers and panelists include:

Colonel Matthew Bogdanos, U.S. Marine Corps, leader of the interagency investigation into the Iraqi antiquities looting during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

• Patrick Boylan, Emeritus Professor of Heritage Policy and Management, City University, London.
• Guido Carducci, Chief of the International Standards Unit, Cultural Heritage Division, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
• Patty Gerstenblith, Professor, DePaul University College of Law; legal counsel for the Archeological Institute of America.
• McGuire Gibson, Professor of Archaeology, The Oriental Institute; President, The American Academic Research Institute in Iraq.
• Jan Hladik, Program Specialist, Cultural Heritage Division, UNESCO.
• Lawrence Rothfield, Faculty Director, Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago; author of a forthcoming report on the policy planning failures that led to the post-invasion looting of Iraq's cultural heritage.

Eric Posner, Professor of Law, The University of Chicago Law School, will serve as respondent. The panel will be moderated by Kenneth Dam, Professor Emeritus of American & Foreign Law and Senior Lecturer, the University of Chicago Law School, and The Brookings Institution.

Antiquities looting in the aftermath of war has become common, notes Cultural Policy Center Faculty Director Rothfield, a principal organizer of the conference. “The list of recently looted sites includes Cambodia's Angkor Wat, Bosnia's churches, and Karwar, often described as ‘Afghanistan's Pompeii,” he said. “But the point of departure for a policy discussion on wartime looting must be Iraq , where the cradle of civilization is being systemically robbed.”

Existing international law encompasses several legal instruments intended to protect cultural heritage during armed conflict and occupation. “However, these international conventions must be evaluated in light of changes I how wars are fought; changes in cultural resource management techniques used to preserve historic monuments and archaeological sites; and our current understanding of the interaction between warfare and the international antiquities market,” Rothfield said.

Panelists will consider the legal status of the 1954 Hague Convention, its applicability to the events in Iraq , and proposals for a new protocol to the Hague Convention designed to address the problems that arose in Iraq . The need for a new protocol is urgent given the possibility of war in other regions rich in cultural heritage resources.

For more information and for position papers to be presented at the conference, visit http://culturalpolicy.uchicago.edu.

About the Cultural Policy Center: Founded in 1999 as a joint initiative of the Harris School of Public Policy Studies and the Division of Humanities, the Cultural Policy Center at the University of Chicago is an interdisciplinary research center and nationally recognized leader in the emerging field of cultural policy research and education. Its mission is to provide research and inform policy that affects the arts, humanities and cultural heritage.

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