Anhur violated WHC

A. WHC applies during armed conflict

Article 11(4) of the Convention states that the outbreak or the threat of an armed conflict 1,
among others, gives the committee the authority to put affected sites under the World Heritage in
Danger list. A potential outbreak or threat of armed conflict which can affect or destroy the
Outstanding Universal Value of a site qualifies it to be admitted to the danger list. 2

The tenor of the provision provides that the convention applies even during armed
conflict. “The inclusion of a provision specifically triggered by armed conflict indicates that the
Convention continues to apply during hostilities.”3 This supports the contention of Rongo that the
Menhit Wetland Complex should have been protected and the long-term effects of the internal
armed conflict brought by Anhur obligate it to compensate for the recovery of the site.

Further, Article 6(3) of the convention prohibits States parties from taking any deliberate
measures that can directly or indirectly affect cultural and natural heritage sites as defined in
Articles 1 and 2 in the convention.4 Anhur deliberately set the armed conflict to happen within
Menhit rather than taking other measures to pacify the group and at the same time comply with
their obligation under WHC to protect natural heritage sites.

B. Anhur violated Art 12 of WHC

Art 12 of WHC provides that even if a property does not belong to the World Heritage
List, States parties are still obligated to comply with their obligations under the convention to
identify, protect, conserve, present, and transmit to future generations various cultural and natural
heritage sites of Outstanding Universal Value.5

The World Heritage List is not an exclusive list of sites which States parties are only to
protect. The list merely serves as a guide in the protection and management of World Heritage
properties.6

i. Menhit Wetland Complex is a Mixed Cultural and Natural Heritage

“Properties shall be considered as mixed cultural and natural heritage if

they satisfy a part or whole of the definitions of both cultural and natural
heritage laid out in Articles 1 and 2 of the Convention.”

1. Cultural Heritage Site

Under Article 1, cultural heritage sites are “works of man or
the combined works of nature and man, and areas including
archaeological sites which are of outstanding universal value from
the historical, aesthetic, ethnological or anthropological point of view. 7

Menhit is a cultural site from the historical and

anthropological point of view. The area possesses remnants of an
indigenous group of people who once lived in the area where Menhit
is currently situated.8 This means that the conservation of the area
will protect the pieces of evidence left by this group. Moreover, the
1
Art 11(4), World Heritage Convention.
2
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, ¶180 at 52.
3
Protecting the environment during armed conflict An inventory and analysis of international law, at 37; Record, ¶26.
4
Art 6(3), World Heritage Convention.
5
Art 12, World Heritage Convention.
6
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, ¶8 at 10.
7
Art 1, World Heritage Convention.
8
Record, ¶14.
 preservation of the area will allow experts in determining why such a
group disappeared and what happened to them.

2. Natural Heritage
Under Article 2 of the convention, a site qualifies as a natural
heritage if it has “natural features consisting of physical and biological
formations or groups of such formations, which are of outstanding universal
value from the aesthetic or scientific point of view; geological and
physiographical formations and precisely delineated areas which constitute
the habitat of threatened species of animals and plants of outstanding
universal value from the point of view of science or conservation; or natural
sites or precisely delineated natural areas of outstanding universal value from
the point of view of science, conservation or natural beauty.” 9

The Menhit Wetland Complex is a natural area from the point of view
of science and conservation. Menhit is “a vast area of undisturbed peat
swamp forest and freshwater swamp forest which supports more than 150
tree species and over 34 species of fish and is an important area for
migratory birds. Three endangered species of birds and eight species of
notable mammals are found here.”10

ii. Menhit Complex has Outstanding Universal Value

Outstanding Universal Value is the “cultural and/or natural
significance which is so exceptional as to transcend national boundaries and
to be of common importance for present and future generations of all
humanity. As such, the permanent protection of this heritage is of the highest
importance to the international community as a whole.” 11 A site does not
have to be listed in the World Heritage List to have an Outstanding Universal
Value. Rather, a site must possess an Outstanding Universal Value before it
can be nominated in the List.12

The Committee has provided criteria in assessing the Outstanding

Univeral Value. A site only must meet one of the criteria to qualify. Menhit
meets two of the ten listed criteria: (iii) bear a unique or at least exceptional
testimony to a cultural tradition or to a civilization which is living or which has
disappeared;13 and (x) contains the most significant natural habitats for in-
situ conservation of biological diversity, including those containing threatened
species of Outstanding Universal Value from the point of view of science or
conservation.14

Moreover, the Committee highlights that a site possessing an

Outstanding Universal Value should also have an adequate protection and
management system to ensure its safeguarding. 15 This is seen in Rongo
recognizing the Menhit Wetland Complex as a national park. 16 This shows the
gravity of importance Rongo placed in the complex.

9
Art 2, World Heritage Convention.
10
Record, ¶14.
11
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, ¶49 at 20.
12
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, ¶50 at 20.
13
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, ¶77 at 25.
14
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, ¶77 at 26.
15
Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention, ¶78 at 26.
16
Record, ¶15.