ABSTRACT
As Article 16 of Protocol II does riot contain a reference to other international instruments, it may be assumed that the authors of the provision had concluded that the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 did not apply to non-international armed conflicts. The situation is different with respect to non-international armed conflicts, where the field of application is reduced in relation to the scope of Article 19 of the Hague Convention. Indeed, the field of application of Article 16 is different from that of Article 19 of the Convention, which was based on Article 3, common to the Geneva Conventions. The Hague Convention of 1954 prohibits the use of cultural property for purposes likely to expose it to destruction or damage in the event of armed conflict and asks Contracting Parties to refrain from any act of hostility directed against such property. Article 4 of the Hague Convention permits obligations to be waived 'in cases where military necessity imperatively requires'.
