Erasing Memory, Rebuilding Law: The Case of Iraq and the Evolution of Cultural Heritage Protection

Abstract

This lecture explores the transformation of cultural heritage from a passive object of preservation to an active legal interest at the intersection of identity, security, and international law. Using Iraq as a post-ISIS case study, it analyzes how the deliberate destruction and trafficking of heritage sites became both a war tactic and a funding mechanism for terrorism. The article argues that this reality exposed deep normative and operational fractures in the international legal framework—particularly under the 1954 Hague Convention, its Protocols, and customary IHL.