Shrouds of Silence: Dismantling of the Heritage Sites of Middle Eastern Minorities as de facto Erasure of History

This chapter examines the limited utility of current international regimes of protection for cultural heritage in the context of minorities in the MENA region. It offers a critical assessment of the definition of the right to cultural heritage and examines relevant conventions with specific reference to war and minority rights nexus in the region. The right to cultural heritage, conventions on the protection of cultural heritage and existing legal and policy documents are evaluated with specific reference to the war and minority rights nexus in the region. It makes the argument that the Syrian crisis led to a more concrete understanding of the pitfalls and failings of protection regimes in international law concerning the cultural heritage of vulnerable communities in the Middle East. While international humanitarian law, such as the 1954 Hague Convention, protects cultural sites and repositories except in limited cases of military necessity, targeting cultural heritage sites continues to be used as a weapon of war. The article concludes with the recommendation that for international law to safeguard the material and living manifestations of minority communities’ heritage, there is a need for the reconceptualization of the protection of cultural heritage as part of the protection of human rights and group rights.