15 - The Role of the Swiss Armed Forces in the Protection of Cultural Property

Summary

INTRODUCTION

On 11 December 1961 the Swiss government, or Federal Council as it is more commonly known, issued its ‘Message to the Federal Parliament concerning Swiss accession to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. An extract reads as follows:

It would be fanciful to assume that the means exist to save with absolute certainty the entire cultural heritage of a country at war. Yet, experience has shown that it is possible to mitigate this risk. The Convention, agreed in The Hague in 1954 by many countries and inspired by the desire for greater cooperation and designed in the spirit of mutual respect, deserves our support not least because of its important moral significance. We would also be in the fortunate position of being able to invoke its provisions, were a war and its concomitant suffering to break out across our country.

In the intervening 38 years, much has changed in Switzerland with regard to the protection of cultural property. The threat from a conventional war involving combined aerial and ground attacks has largely dissipated, which is good news for both the country as a whole and its cultural property. However, new threats have emerged over the last 20 years or so. Cultural property has increasingly become the target of choice in civil and ethnic conflicts, a development which the Swiss Peace Corps has seen for itself during its mission in Kosovo. In security service circles, there is a growing concern that cultural property could be a potentially attractive target also for terrorist groups.

Nevertheless, the statement by the Federal Council is as relevant today as it was in 1961. The only difference is that the protection of cultural property, the responsibility for which is shared in Switzerland and elsewhere by the military and civilian authorities, must be adapted to these new threats and changing circumstances.

This chapter has two aims. The first is to present the Protection of Cultural Property (PCP) model adopted by the Swiss Armed Forces, and the changes it already has undergone. The second is to conjecture on the further changes that may be required in the future.