Assessing the Approaches Governing the Criminalization of Offences Against Cultural Heritage in Times of Armed Conflicts: From Civilian Use to Cultural Value

One of the unpleasant results of war is the damage to and destruction of cultural heritage (CH) as the momento of human history. The question which is being answered in this research base on a descriptive-analytic method is that which approach in criminalization secures the further protection of CH in times of armed conflicts and which instrument of international criminal law is a better tool in criminalizing the offences against CH in this regard? The International Criminal Court Statute takes a retrograde attitude and civilian-use and instrumental value-based to offences against CH in times of armed conflicts, whereas the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in Times of Armed Conflict in a far more innovative and progressive, has preferred the cultural and intrinsic value approach. It appears that the latter is more appropriate for protecting CH and, at present, the most effective tool for legal prosecution of war crimes against CH is the Second Protocol. Therefore, it is crucial to promote ratification by a large number of states and to encourage states to adopt implementing legislation that may allow domestic judges to prosecute the most serious crimes against CH on the basis of jurisdictional criteria provided for in Protocol II. Furthermore, it seems well applying the civilian-use approach to offences against CH in the framework of crimes against humanity.