Prosecutor Serge Brammertz is in London today where he is participating in the conference entitled ‘Blood, Treasure and Islamic State: War, Extremism and the Looting of Culture’, organized at the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Prosecutor delivered a presentation entitled ‘Destruction of Cultural Heritage as a Weapon of War’ pointing out that campaigns of mass atrocities against civilian populations do not just target human life. Namely, systematic cultural destruction can be used as a deliberate weapon of war to erase the heritage and identities of targeted groups, particularly as part of ideologically-driven strategies of ethnic cleansing. The ICTY Office of the Prosecutor has successfully prosecuted leaders under international law for such crimes committed during the conflicts that consumed the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s. The lessons learned from these experiences underscore the need for accountability and can inform the international communitys responses to cultural destruction in the context of contemporary armed conflicts today.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:35:52 +0000
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