Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property

Article 4 of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property provides:
1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect cultural property situated within their own territory as well
as within the territory of other High Contracting Parties by refraining from any use of the property and its
immediate surroundings or of the appliances in use for its protection for purposes which are likely to expose it
to destruction or damage in the event of armed conflict
2. The obligations mentioned in paragraph 1 of the present Article may be waived only in cases where military
necessity imperatively requires such a waiver.

The Second Protocol to the Convention for the Protection

of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1999)
Article 6(b) provides:
A waiver on the basis of imperative military necessity pursuant to Article 4 paragraph 2 of the [1954 Hague]
Convention may only be invoked to use cultural property for purposes which are likely to expose it to
destruction or damage when and for as long as no choice is possible between such use of the cultural property
and another feasible method for obtaining a similar military advantage.
Article 8 provides that the Parties to the conflict shall, to the maximum extent feasible avoid locating
military objectives near cultural property.
Article 21 provides:
Without prejudice to Article 28 of the [1954 Hague] Convention, each Party shall adopt such legislative,
administrative or disciplinary measures as may be necessary to suppress the following acts when committed
intentionally:
(a) any use of cultural property in violation of the Convention or this Protocol.
Article 22(1) of the states: This Protocol shall apply in the event of an armed conflict not of an international
character, occurring within the territory of one of the Parties.

1977 Additional Protocols I

Article 85(4)(d) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I considers the following a grave breach of the Protocol:
making the clearly-recognized historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the
cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples and to which special protection has been given by special arrangement,
for example, within the framework of a competent international organization, the object of attack, causing as a
result extensive destruction thereof, where there is no evidence of the violation by the adverse Party of
Article 53, sub-paragraph b), and when such historic monuments, works of art and places of worship are not
located in the immediate proximity of military objectives
Article 53 (b) provides:
Article 53 Protection of cultural objects and of places of worship
Without prejudice to the provisions of the Hague Convention for the Protection of
Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954, and of other relevant
international instruments, it is prohibited:
b) to use such objects in support of the military effort;

1977 Additional Protocols II

Article 16 of the 1977 Additional Protocol II provides:
Without prejudice to the provisions of the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the
Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954, it is prohibited to commit any acts of hostility directed against historic
monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples, and
to use them in support of the military effort.
Article 13 Loss of enhanced protection
1. Cultural property under enhanced protection shall only lose such protection:
b. if, and for as long as, the property has, by its use, become a military objective.
2. In the circumstances of sub-paragraph 1(b), such property may only be the object of attack if:
a. the attack is the only feasible means of terminating the use of the property referred
to in sub-paragraph 1(b);