After summarising the range of reflections by legal scholars on Cultural Rights, this article scrutinises the principle interpretations of the right to take part in cultural life – by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Due to the evolving interpretations adopted, these bodies have come to define both a right to cultural identity and a right to cultural heritage that is both nuanced and direct. Moreover, they open the door to more extensive attempts at defining customary state obligations, for instance, to respect cultural heritage as recently demonstrated by the decision of the International Criminal Court in the well-known Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi case (2016). This article underlines the importance of this ruling in identifying the human dimension to cultural heritage. It established that the human perspective of cultural heritage is not a prerogative of human rights bodies only, but is beginning to be recognised and valued by other international agencies and organs.

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‘Blood Antiquities’Protecting Cultural Heritage beyond Criminalization

The Recognition of the Right to Cultural Identity under (and beyond) International Human Rights Law

Le 27 septembre 2016, la Cour penale internationale a reconnu Ahmad al-Mahdi coupable de crimes de guerre pour avoir dirige intentionnellement des attaques contre dix des monuments les plus importants et les plus connus de Tombouctou, ville inscrite sur la Liste du patrimoine mondial de l’UNESCO depuis 1988 Pour la premiere fois, la CPI s’est penchee sur la destruction du patrimoine culturel La portee de son jugement est donc historique Toutefois, malgre la mediatisation et un certain triomphalisme qui ont caracterise l’adoption de cette decision, quelques reserves peuvent etre soulevees quant a l’interpretation suivie par la Cour Il s’agit neanmoins d’une « affaire pilote » qui ne manquera pas d’influencer la jurisprudence a l’avenir et constitue d’ores et deja un jalon dans la construction de l’edifice normatif du droit international de la culture

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La Cour pénale internationale face à la destruction du patrimoine culturel : réflexions à propos de l’Affaire al-Mahdi

Cultural Heritage—Competing Conceptions and Significance

In the light of recent years’ armed conflicts and the growing level of terrorist activity globally, the link between illicit trafficking of cultural property and terrorism constitutes a growing concern for war-torn regions as well as for the international community as a whole. Identified as a possible form of terrorism-financing in recent years, the illegal trade of artefacts contributes to the fuelling of the spiral of violence and by this, to the undermining of the identity of the targeted populations. Due to the effects of the Arab Spring swiping through several African countries resulting in a still-existing destabilisation, power vacuum and the spread of different terrorist groups, these countries are serving an especially timeous example from this point of view. By presenting some examples from North Africa and the Sahel region, the paper aims to give an initial insight into the issue as an increasingly important international security challenge.

‘Blood Antiquities’Protecting Cultural Heritage beyond Criminalization

Citations

The Recognition of the Right to Cultural Identity under (and beyond) International Human Rights Law

La Cour pénale internationale face à la destruction du patrimoine culturel : réflexions à propos de l’Affaire al-Mahdi

Cultural Heritage—Competing Conceptions and Significance

“Blood Antiquities” of Africa: A Link between Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property and Terrorism-Financing?

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