CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

CYIL 11 (2020) CULTURAL PROPERTY IN THE LAWS OF WAR protection of cultural properties. One provision governs the ownership and function of the property of institutions dedicated to religion, charity and education, the arts, and sciences in armed conflict. Whereas the other provision stipulates what must be done by the attacking forces and defenders during sieges and bombardments of fortresses, open or defended towns or villages. Draft Article 8 ​formulated a rule of limited protection or inviolability of property of institutions. The rule guaranteed the protection of the property belonging to different legal persons. The provision embraces property of institutions dedicated to religion, property of charity and institutions of education, the arts, and science. 26 The draft rule imposed an international duty exclusively on the occupying state. The things were not to be seized by the occupant. Among others, these kinds of property share an instrumental value: they satisfy the spiritual needs of the inhabitants, help them to overcome the worst of life’s hardships or contribute to developing knowledge. In contrast, the draft Article 13(g) permitted the belligerent to seize or destroy the property necessary to wage war and strengthen the armed forces. The first component of the provision expressed a substantive rule. While the second paragraph is partly concerned with a procedural matter. The rule was linked to criminal proceedings before the competent authorities of the belligerent state. Seizures, destruction, wilful damage of protected institutions, historical monuments, artistic, and scientific works are recognized as unlawful conducts. Certainly, in relation to domestic penal law, the rule implied the enactment of subjective and objective elements of crimes. The diplomats taking part in the Brussels negotiations amended the wording of Article 8. They retained its binary structure. However, the amendments appeared in both the descriptive and prescriptive parts of the rule. 27 Limited protection was extended to municipal property. Furthermore, the final text subsumes historical monuments under the category of protected objects. What is entirely significant that the rule ignores legal fiction. Although the cultural objects remained public property, whether state, district, or municipal, the delegates attributed to them the equal treatment as private property, and thus a higher degree of protection. A proposal for a specific provision on the protection of churches and buildings dedicated to art, science and, charity was accepted and incorporated to Chapter IV. According to draft Article 16, the officer in command of attacking forces besieging the fortified city was subject to the duty to take all measures to spare these objects. 28 He had to take action before the military operation launched. The text of the provision involved one term and one wording with a crucial meaning. One expression is the verb “to spare”, which means to refrain from certain conduct ( omittere ), in this case warlike. The phrase “if possible” ( autant qu’il est 26 Draft Article 8 states in French: “La propriété des églises, des établissements de charité et d’instruction, de toutes les institutions consacrées des buts scientifiques, artistiques et de bienfaisance, n’est pas sujette à prise de possession par l’armée d’occupation.Toute saisie ou destruction intentionnelles de semblables établissements, des monuments, des œuvres d’art ou des musées scientifiques, doit être poursuivre par l’autorité compétente.” 27 Article 8 of the Brussels Declaration states in French : “Les biens des communes, ceux des établissements consacrés aux cultes, à la charité et à l’instruction, aux arts et aux sciences, même appartenant à l’Etat, seront traités comme la propriété privée. Toute saisie, destruction ou dégradation intentionnelle de semblables établissements, de monuments historiques, d’oeuvres d’art ou de science, doit être poursuivie par les autorités compétentes.” 28 The draft § 16 states in French: “Le commandant d’une armée assiégeante, lorsqu’il bombarde une ville fortifiée, doit prendre toutes les mesures qui dépendent de lui pour épargner, autant qu’il est possible, les églises et les édifices artistiques, scientifiques et de bienfaisance.”

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