Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict

 

Article 9

IMMUNITY OF CULTURAL PROPERTY UNDER SPECIAL PROTECTION

The High Contracting Parties undertake to ensure the immunity of
cultural property under special protection by refraining, from
the time of entry in the International Register, from any act of
hostility directed against such property and, except for the
cases provided for in paragraph 5 of Article 8, from any use of
such property or its surroundings for military purposes.

Article 10

IDENTIFICATION AND CONTROL

During an armed conflict, cultural property under special
protection shall be marked with the distinctive emblem described
in Article 16, and shall be open to international control as
provided for in the Regulations for the execution of the
Convention.

Article 11
WITHDRAWAL OF IMMUNITY

1. If one of the High Contracting Parties commits, in respect of
any item of cultural property under special protection, a
violation of the obligations under Article 9, the opposing Party
shall, so long as this violation persists, be released from the
obligation to ensure the immunity of the property concerned.
Nevertheless, whenever possible, the latter Party shall first
request the cessation of such violation within a reasonable time.

2. Apart from the case provided for in paragraph 1 of the present
Article, immunity shall be withdrawn from cultural property under
special protection only in exceptional cases of unavoidable
military necessity, and only for such time as that necessity
continues. Such necessity can be established only by the officer
commanding a force the equivalent of a division in size or
larger. Whenever circumstances permit, the opposing Party shall
be notified, a reasonable time in advance, of the decision to
withdraw immunity.

3. The Party withdrawing immunity shall, as soon as possible, so
inform the Commissioner-General for cultural property provided
for in the Regulations for the execution of the Convention, in
writing, stating the reasons.

CHAPTER III: TRANSPORT OF CULTURAL PROPERTY

Article 12

TRANSPORT UNDER SPECIAL PROTECTION

1. Transport exclusively engaged in the transfer of cultural
property, whether within a territory or to another territory,
may, at the request of the High Contracting Party concerned, take
place under special protection in accordance with the conditions
specified in the Regulations for the execution of the Convention.

2. Transport under special protection shall take plate under the
international supervision provided for in the aforesaid
Regulations and shall display the distinctive emblem described in
Article 16.

3. The High Contracting Parties shall refrain from any act of
hostility directed against transport under special protection.

Article 13

TRANSPORT IN URGENT CASES

1. If a High Contracting Party considers that the safety of
certain cultural property requires its transfer and that the
matter is of such urgency that the procedure laid down in Article
12 cannot be followed, especially at the beginning of an armed
conflict, the transport may display the distinctive emblem
described in Article 16, provided that an application for
immunity referred to in Article 12 has not already been made and
refused. As far as possible, notification of transfer should be
made to the opposing Parties. Nevertheless, transport conveying
cultural property to the territory of another country may not
display the distinctive emblem unless immunity has been expressly
granted to it.

2. The High Contracting Parties shall take, so far as possible,
the necessary precautions to avoid acts of hostility directed
against the transport described in paragraph 1 of the present
Article and displaying the distinctive emblem.

Article 14

IMMUNITY FROM SEIZURE, CAPTURE AND PRIZE

1. Immunity from seizure, placing in prize, or capture shall be
granted to:

(a) cultural property enjoying the protection provided for
in Article 12 or that provided for in Article 13;

(b) the means of transport exclusively engaged in the
transfer of such cultural property.

2. Nothing in the present Article shall limit the right of visit
and search.

CHAPTER IV: PERSONNEL

Article 15

PERSONNEL

As far as is consistent with the interests of security, personnel
engaged in the protection of cultural property shall, in the
interests of such property, be respected and, if they fall into
the hands of the opposing Party, shall be allowed to continue to
carry out their duties whenever the cultural property for which
they are responsible has also fallen into the hands of the
opposing Party.

CHAPTER V: THE DISTINCTIVE EMBLEM

Article 16

EMBLEM OF THE CONVENTION

1. The distinctive emblem of the Convention shall take the form
of a shield, pointed below, per saltire blue and white (a shield
consisting of a royal blue square, one of the angles of which
forms the point of the shield, and of a royal-blue triangle above
the square, the space on either side being taken up by a white
triangle).

2. The emblem shall be used alone, or repeated three times in a
triangular formation (one shield below), under the conditions
provided for in Article 17.

Article 17

USE OF THE EMBLEM

1. The distinctive emblem repeated three times may be used only
as means of identification of:

(a) immovable cultural property under special protection;

(b) the transport of cultural property under the conditions
provided for in Articles 12 and 13;

(c) improvised refuges, under the conditions provided for in
the Regulations for the execution of the Convention.

2. The distinctive emblem may be used alone only as a means of
identification of:

(a) cultural property not under special protection;

(b) the persons responsible for the duties of control in
accordance with the Regulations for the execution of the
Convention;

(c) the personnel engaged in the protection of cultural
property;

(d) the identity cards mentioned in the Regulations for the
execution of the Convention.

3. During an armed conflict, the use of the distinctive emblem in
any other cases than those mentioned in the preceding paragraphs
of the present Article, and the use for any purpose whatever of a
sign resembling the distinctive emblem, shall be forbidden.

4. The distinctive emblem may not be placed on any immovable
cultural property unless at the same time there is displayed an
authorization duly dated and signed by the competent authority of
the High Contracting Party.

 

Author: international

Mentioned in these Entries

Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, country.