UNESCO places 34 Lebanese cultural properties under enhanced protection: what does it mean?

On November 27, 2024, at 4 AM local Lebanese time, a fragile ceasefire was declared in Lebanon and Israel. The Journal of Cultural Heritage Crime has previously published an article on Lebanon’s endangered cultural heritage during the recent conflict. Since that publication, there have been new developments concerning the protection of cultural heritage in Lebanon amidst the ongoing hostilities. In mid-September 2024, the Israeli army intensified its bombardment of several Lebanese regions and subsequently launched a ground invasion, resulting in numerous casualties, injuries, and material destruction.

Lebanon’s cultural heritage has also been affected by the most recent hostilities. To identify some examples of the recent destruction of cultural heritage in Lebanon, I followed the work of the Biladi NGO and their efforts to document the destruction of Lebanon’s cultural heritage on their social media (Instagram). The evidence presented on their social media shows that Israeli bombardments and other related military activities in southern Lebanon have destroyed or damaged the historic souq of Nabatiye and the city’s mosques, damaged or destroyed Chamma Castle. Also damaged or destroyed the shrine of the Prophet Benjamin in the town of Muhaibib (Jabal Amel) and destroyed the early 20th century church of Saint Georges in Dardghaya. Severe damage was also reported in the Beqaa region: in the town of Baalbek, the 19th century Al-Mansihiya building (also known as Beit Asila) was destroyed.

The building is located very close to the Baalbek citadel, where the famous Roman temples are located. In addition, the ancient western gate of the Baalbek citadel (also known as the Iaat Gate) has been destroyed. Throughout the conflict, regular Israeli bombardment of the immediate vicinity of the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Tyre and Baalbek has been reported.

On 30 October 2024, the Lebanese authorities appealed to UNESCO for help in protecting their cultural heritage during the war. In addition, 300 cultural heritage experts petitioned for urgent action to protect Lebanon’s cultural heritage. In their request, the Lebanese authorities requested enhanced protection for 34 cultural properties in Lebanon and international assistance from the Fund for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict met at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 18 November 2024. The Committee has granted provisional enhanced protection to 34 nominated cultural properties in Lebanon; in addition, the sites placed under enhanced protection will also receive technical and financial assistance from UNESCO to improve the risk management of these sites and provide further training to site managers in this area.

But what does “enhanced protection” mean? According to UNESCO’s Press release (18 November 2024), cultural property under enhanced protection “benefits from the highest level of immunity against attack and use for military purposes“. It also serves as a warning to the international community of the need to protect Lebanon’s cultural heritage during the military conflict. The modern international legal basis for the protection of cultural property during conflict is the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (also known as the Hague Convention, adopted on 14 May 1954) and its two protocols. Lebanon ratified the Convention on 1 June 1960 and Israel on 3 October 1957. The “enhanced protection” was introduced in the Second Protocol of the Convention (adopted on 26 March 1999). According to the UNESCO website, Lebanon acceded to the Second Protocol on 8 October 2020, but Israel has not yet acceded or ratified it. Article 10 of the Second Protocol sets out three conditions for inscription under “enhanced protection” system: a) the nominated cultural property must be of the greatest importance to humanity; b) it must be protected by appropriate national legal and administrative measures, including recognition of its historical and cultural value; c) it is not and will not be used for military purposes. Article 12 grants cultural property under “enhanced protection” immunity from attack and from being used as support for military action. Article 15 establishes attacks on cultural property under “enhanced protection”, the use of cultural property under enhanced protection or its immediate surroundings in support of military action and the destruction of cultural property protected under Hague Convention (1954) and this Protocol as a “serious violation” of the Second Protocol. Article 15, paragraph 2, proposes that these violations should be established as criminal offences under the domestic law of State Parties. Article 16, paragraph 2b, excludes citizens or armed forces of a non-State Party from criminal responsibility under the Second Protocol in most cases.

It is important to stress that enhanced protection is a system of maximum immunity established in the Second Protocol. However, cultural property is already protected in time of war by the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The system of enhanced protection is only an emergency measure when the provisions of the Hague Convention (1954) fail.

Finally, UNESCO granted the Lebanese request for enhanced protection of 34 cultural properties, to raise awareness in the international community of the need to protect Lebanon’s cultural heritage, which was very vulnerable during the recent conflict. In addition, the organisation offered financial and technical support for the risk management of these sites and strengthened previous cooperation with Lebanon in the cultural heritage protection sector. What is next for Lebanon’s cultural heritage? Just days after UNESCO granted enhanced protection to 34 Lebanese cultural heritage sites, the Israeli army issued an evacuation order marking a large area of the city of Tyre as a potential target. A large part of Tyre’s city archaeological site (also known as Al-Mina), a UNESCO World Heritage site included in the enhanced protection system, was marked as a potential target area. Following a recent ceasefire agreement, much information is still unknown. From the public information we can assume that the full implementation process will be long and could take two months or more. Thanks to the work of the Biladi NGO, we already have some information about the destruction or damage to some of Lebanon’s cultural property. It is still unclear when the Lebanese cultural heritage authorities and other relevant institutions or organisations will be given full and safe access to the southern part of the country to document all the destruction or damage to cultural property. The impact of the Israeli bombardment on the immediate surroundings of the UNESCO World Heritage sites of Tyre and Baalbek is also still unknown, but we can assume that some damage has been caused by bomb impacts and ground shaking during the bombardments.

DISCLAIMER: This article is for educational purposes only and is not meant to provide legal advice (ZB).