Cultural property in armed conflict

Before the crisis, prevention: inventories, evacuation plans, staff training, marking with the blue and white emblem. During the crisis, intervention: moving to safety, documentation, logistical support, coordination with local actors. After the crisis, repair: restoration, restitution, reconstruction.

Each stage has its OIMAP tools: training, BIOP database, emergency fund, expert teams, restitutions unit. They rely on the 1954 Hague Convention and its protocols.

Property from conflict zones sometimes enters the lawful market. To prevent this, OIMAP requires operators to exercise enhanced vigilance: proof of possession predating the conflict, consultation of the list of endangered property, refusal of doubtful provenances.

It publishes a red list of types of property that are particularly threatened, drawn up with ICOM, which helps customs officers and operators recognise objects at risk.

OIMAP's work relies on local partners: museums, associations, universities, communities. They know the sites, spot threats and pass on valuable information. OIMAP supports them through training, equipment and project funding.

It also cooperates with armed forces, to whom it offers modules on respect for cultural property, and with humanitarian actors, who are often the first on the ground.

The destruction of heritage in a conflict often aims to erase a people's identity. That is why its protection is also a matter of peace: rebuilding a monument helps a community to recover its history.

OIMAP upholds the idea that heritage protection is part of emergency humanitarian aid, and argues that the Hague conventions should be better known and applied by all belligerents.