Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Issue 1 | Page 151

the Convention. Other key nations, such as the United Kingdom have yet
to ratify it, although such a bill is being debated by Parliament that could
become UK law early in ���� (Note �). The convention’s subsequent two
Protocols give further protections, the Second Protocol (����) going some
way in closing the military necessity loophole that has arguably limited the
efficacy of the Convention.
In ����, the UN Security Council established the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It has its own rules and regulations
specific to the Balkan context, which recognised the need to tackle the
extensive cultural heritage crimes perpetrated during the Balkan Wars.
The way the Tribunal would approach these crimes would draw on existing
frameworks such as the ���� Hague Convention. However, the military
necessity argument limited the extent to which some seemingly clear cut
targeted attacks, such as the shelling of the Mostar Bridge in November ����
by Croat forces, were treated at the tribunal.
Importantly, the judgment in the Krstic case, examining the killing of
Srebrenica’s Bosnian Muslims and the parallel destruction of their mosques,
stated that “where there is physical or biological destruction there are often
simultaneous attacks on the cultural and religious property of the targeted group as
well, attacks which may be considered as evidence of an intent to physically destroy
the group.” (Note �)
Despite such important recognitions, there has been a lack of consensus
at the Tribunal on how to view such crimes. In April ����, appeal judges
in the Tolimir case ruled that the trial judges had ‘committed a legal error in
considering the destruction of mosques’ (Note �). The appeal judges determined
that targeted cultural destruction cannot be considered as evidence of
genocide, nor possibly even intent of genocide, noting that ‘cultural genocide’
had been discluded from the scope of the Genocide Convention.
Despite these contradictions, the overall work of the court, and of individuals
like András Riedlmayer, has been vital to the success of such prosecutions.
Riedlmeyer is bibliographer at the Aga Khan Fine Arts Library at Harvard
University. He meticulously collected evidence in Kosovo and Bosnia in
the aftermath of hostilities and served as an expert witness in several ICTY
cases. Riedlmayer’s work has set an informal standard for some cultural
heritage workers collecting and documenting evidence of possible cultural
crimes in recent and ongoing contexts.
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