A Report on Impact of Explosive Weapons on Cultural Heritage

The devastating effects of war devices on the civilian population are well known to all. However, such devices seriously damage the cultural heritage of a community, injuring in a less visible way in the immediate, but equally serious way, the people who constitute that community (According the Report, in 2023, as in most years it has reported on since 2011, about 90 percent of the people who are killed or injured when explosive weapons are used in towns and cities are civilians) because they destroy the symbols and spaces that celebrate common values (according the Report: Explosive weapons’ blast, fragmentation, and secondary fires inflict direct effects on the full range of cultural heritage sites at the time of attack. The blast produced by detonations on or near cultural heritage can bend and break the structural elements of a building, even concrete and steel, leading to the collapse of part or all of an entire edifice). The use of these weapons in populated areas destroys historic buildings, places of worship, museums and archives, undermining the identity and memory of entire communities. This type of damage, which is not limited to the immediate effects of bombing, extends in the long term, erasing traces of history and culture that could be valuable at the local and global levels.

Those fundamental aspects of conflicts have been discussed in the 2022 EWIPA (Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas) conference in Dublin.

The political declaration of the conference (signed by 86 countries) establishes fundamental principles for preventing and reducing the harm that explosive weapons cause in populated areas, with the aim of protecting both civilians and cultural heritage. It states at point 1.5 that: “1.5 The damage and destruction of housing, schools, hospitals, places of worship and cultural heritage sites further aggravates civilian suffering. The environment can also be impacted by the use of explosive weapons, through the contamination of air, soil, water, and other resources.“.

The first international meeting to discuss the implementation of the Declaration has been held in Oslo, Norway, from April 22 to 24, 2024. On April, 18, 2024 the “Destroying Cultural Heritage Explosive Weapons’ Effects in Armed Conflict and Measures to Strengthen Protection” report edited by Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic has been released.

The document suggests concrete measures to reduce damage to cultural heritage. These include training armed forces to recognize and respect the value of cultural heritage, collecting and sharing data on the damage caused, and ensuring that conservation experts have immediate access to damaged sites.

Protecting Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict

Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic recently published a report exploring the effects of explosive weapons on cultural heritage in armed conflict. The report focuses on the direct and indirect damage resulting from the use of these weapons, highlighting how they threaten the survival of cultural heritage in war contexts. The underlying consideration is that, when used in urban areas, explosive weapons not only kill and injure civilians, but also destroy buildings and monuments that represent the historical memory and identity of a nation. The destruction of museums, archaeological sites, and places of worship is not just an attack on physical structures, but a wound to the soul of the community.

The Case of Ukraine and Other Examples of Conflict

The report explores several examples of recent conflicts, such as the war in Ukraine, to illustrate the vulnerability of cultural heritage to explosive weapons. Other conflicts, such as those in Gaza and Yemen, also offer emblematic cases of how modern warfare destroys crucial cultural assets.

Damage to museums, local archives, and historic sites in urban centers are documented, highlighting how the protection of cultural heritage is not only a legal duty, but also a fundamental humanitarian issue.