Higgins, Noelle and Badar, Mohamed Elewa (2017) The Destruction of Cultural Property in Timbuktu: Challenging the ICC War Crime Paradigm. Europa ethnica, 74 (3/4). pp. 99-105. ISSN 0014-2492

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Abstract

Cultural property has been destroyed, looted and trafficked throughout history, particularly during conflict situations.2 In many instances, the property that is destroyed belongs to, and / or represents, minority groups and its destruction impacts significantly on minority culture. ISIS, and related jihadist groups, have, in recent times, actively engaged in the deliberate destruction of cultural property in numerous States, including Iraq, Syria, and Mali. This has been described as ‘cultural cleansing’ by the Director-General of UNESCO,3 as jihadist groups aim to eradicate all signs of ‘other’ cultures within its newly formed State. The destruction of cultural property is now a strategy of war, with the objective being to eliminate cultural diversity and pluralism, ‘erase all sources of belonging and identity, and destroy the fabric of society.’4 The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently (2016) heard the case of Prosecutor v Al Mahdi, which focused specifically on the destruction of cultural property in Mali during a non-international armed conflict. The defendant was charged, under Article 8 of the ICC Statute, with the war crime of directing attacks against cultural property.5 Mr Al Mahdi, a member of the fundamentalist Islamic group, Ansar Dine, had been in charge of the Hisbah, the morality brigade set up in Timbuktu. One of his roles was to oversee the destruction of a number of religious monuments and mausoleums in the city...

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	ICC War Crime Paradigm; Timbuktu; Law;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Law
Item ID:	11587
Depositing User:	Noelle Higgins
Date Deposited:	04 Nov 2019 14:25
Journal or Publication Title:	Europa ethnica
Publisher:	Facultas Verlags- und Buchhandels AG
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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