War Crimes Against Culture

Before reading this weeks articles, "Unesco's Rehabilitation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage: Mandate and Recent Activities" and "Afghan Cultural Heritage and International Law: The Case of the Buddha’s of Bamiyan" I never realized the toll war could take on cultural objects. It is common knowledge that war is very destructive, it murders millions of people, and abolishes infrastructure. I think a lot of people including myself forget that because of war many cultural objects are completely destroyed, stolen, or ruined. Cultural objects are extremely important to sustaining the heritage of a peoples and they are important factors in the history of a peoples. According to Francioni and Lenzerini the destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha’s was considered a war crime. This again shows that the destruction of cultural objects was a negative consequence of war and the destruction is equal to that of destroying infrastructure or murdering people.

The article "Unesco's Rehabilitation of Afghanistan's Cultural Heritage: Mandate and Recent Activities" outlines all of the money various governments gave to help the preservation of Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. The article states that "funding and other forms of assistance well exceeding the $7 million pledged during the May 2002 Kabul Seminar have been given for cultural projects in Afghanistan." (59) I wonder if people think all this money being poured into persevering Afghanistan's cultural heritage is too much? Would people think this money should go to other programs like food and shelter programs instead of spending so much money on restoring cultural objects? In my opinion I think cultural objects are just as important. They define a peoples, they become part of your life and the way you live. They help define you and it is important to make sure no culture is lost because no culture is more superior to another so we must treat each culture equally.