An Islamic extremist this past week pleaded guilty before the International Criminal Court to destroying 10 tombs from the 14th century in Timbuktu, Mali. This case sets two important precedents.
The first was that it will be the first conviction of an Islamist for a war crime of this sort. The second is that it will be the first successful prosecution by the ICC of someone who has destroyed pieces of cultural heritage.
Perhaps the most important aspect of ICC prosecution is the precedent it sets for people in a position to damage or destroy other cultural monuments in the world's many ongoing wars. In March 2001, the Taliban of Afghanistan destroyed ancient statues of Buddha in Bamiyan. Islamic State forces have destroyed parts of Palmyra, Syria. Croatian forces shelled into pieces an Ottoman-era marble bridge over the Neretva River in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the 1990s.
This trial should serve as some protection for cultural monuments in other areas of warfare including Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, with the potential for eventual accountability looming, but there is no guarantee for them whatsoever. The United States has not adhered to the ICC, partly from fear of being held to such account.
Editorial on 08/30/2016