Draft Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill

The aim of this Bill is to ensure the security of the nation's most important cultural property in the event of armed conflict, and further, that the UK takes the obligation under international humanitarian law to respect and safeguard the cultural property of other nations. The Bill is required to enable the UK to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (The Hague Convention) and accede to its two protocols (1954 and 1999). The Convention, adopted following the massive destruction which took place during the Second World War, provides a system to protect cultural property from the effects of international and domestic armed conflict. Parties to the Convention are required to respect cultural property situated within the territories of other parties by not attacking it, and respect cultural property within their own territory by not using it for the purposes which are likely to expose it to destruction or damage during armed conflict. The document sets out: a Draft Bill; Explanatory Notes and Regulatory Impact Assessment.