Protecting Cultural Heritage: International Law after the War in Iraq
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3-5 p.m., Friday, February 3, 2006
The University of Chicago Law School
Glen
A. Lloyd Auditorium, 1111 East 60th Street, Chicago
Organized by the Cultural Policy Center, in collaboration with
The Oriental Institute and The University of Chicago Law School
"***PLEASE NOTE the room change from the Weymouth Kirkland Courtroom to the Glen A. Lloyd Auditorium***
***SIGN-IN begins at 2:30pm.***
Upon the fall of Saddam Hussein's government in April 2003, news accounts described in grim detail how Iraq's National Museum, which had been used as a fortified military position by the Special Republican Guard in violation of international law, was pillaged while American forces, which had not designated a unit to secure the Museum, patrolled nearby. Profit-driven plundering at archaeological sites almost immediately escalated throughout the country. It continues to this day. Meanwhile, coalition forces have built an airbase abutting Babylon and, more recently dug trenches through ancient buried cities.
The 2003 Iraq war exposed serious shortcomings in the international legal framework built over the last century to prevent the pillaging, looting and destruction of cultural property in times of war. International law encompasses several legal instruments intended to ensure protection of cultural heritage during armed conflict and occupation. However, these international conventions need to be evaluated in light of changes in methods of warfare and occupation; changes in cultural resource management techniques that impact historic monuments and archaeological site preservation; and our current understanding of the interaction between warfare and the international art market.
"Protecting Cultural Heritage: International Law after the War in Iraq" will examine international legal provisions for protecting cultural property during armed conflict and occupation, and offer suggestions on how to strengthen them. 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 that will 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.
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; President, Lawyers Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation
- 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 the forthcoming report on the policy planning failures that led to the post-invasion looting of Iraq's cultural heritage
Moderator:
Kenneth Dam
Professor Emeritus of American & Foreign Law and Senior Lecturer, The University of Chicago Law School, and The Brookings Institute
Respondent:
Eric Posner
Professor of Law, The University of Chicago Law School