ABSTRACT
Cultural heritage has always been a victim of conflict, with monuments and artefacts being frequently destroyed as collateral damage in wars throughout history. Despite the global condemnation of attacks on cultural heritage, concrete action to halt the crime in question has been quite limited so far, in terms not only of ex-post reactions against the worst cases of destruction of cultural heritage, but also of prevention of such destruction when it is likely to happen. The report also states that '[a]ffected people are suffering from the disruption of their cultural practices, skills and expressions of intangible cultural heritage. In response to recent attacks on cultural heritage, however, international organisations and academics have suggested new approaches to the protection of cultural heritage during armed conflict. The chapter also presents an overview on the key concepts discussed in this book.
