Destruction of Cultural Property

The intentional destruction, damage, or pillage of a cultural, religious, historical, or artistic site or object during an armed conflict, prohibited under international humanitarian law and codified as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and under the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The International Criminal Court secured its first conviction specifically for this offense in the 2016 case against Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi, who pleaded guilty to directing the destruction of historic mausoleums and a mosque in Timbuktu, Mali, and the offense has also been documented in the destruction of ancient sites at Palmyra, Syria, and Nimrud, Iraq, during periods of control by the group Islamic State, treated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and other bodies as a loss to humanity's shared cultural heritage rather than only to the state where the property is located.