Forum Archaeologiae - Zeitschrift für klassische Archäologie 55 / VI / 2010 |
The Austrian Armed Forces are the only forces worldwide that have introduced a "Liasion Officer for the Protection of Cultural Property" (LO/PCP), in accordance with the stipulations of the 1954 "Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict" and its two adjunct Protocols.
In the future, instruction will be substantially extended:
However, the experience gained in various operations over the past years as well as the fundamentally changed threat scenario have shown that the issue of protecting of cultural property goes, and has to go, far beyond the basically clearly defined tasks of a Liasion Officer for the Protection of Cultural Property, as provided by the Hague Convention and its Protocols.
In the Austrian Armed Forces, training of the Liasion Officers for the Protection of Cultural Property has, so far, included:
- Legal instruction
- Introduction into the current state of the "estimate of the situation" and of staff service in general
- Specialist training of cultural property protection personnel, such as the introduction into the existing "basic materials" for the protection of cultural property, the applicable legal basis of cultural property protection ("basic directive") as well as tactical training regarding all types of operations, in accordance with the Defence Act
- Tasks and methods of operation of the institutions responsible for cultural property protection, on the national and the international level
* National - Federal Monuments Authority
* International - UNESCO
Training already conducted:
In several national and, especially, international symposiums or workshops, respectively contingencies with reference to sub-paras (a) and (d) of the Defence Act were dealt with intensively in theory and practice:
1997 - Situation "Göttweig" - cultural property protection in a defensive operation
1999 - Situation "Friesach" - cultural property protection in a delaying defensive operation
2001 - Situation "Montfort" - cultural property protection in an international operation, using the situation in the Kosovo as test case
2006 - Situation "Pallas Athena" - cultural property protection in a peace support operation, using the Situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina as test case
In the near future, contingencies with reference to sub-paras (b) and (c) of the Defence Act will be dealt with in national and international symposiums. In September 2010, for example, a field exercise is planned within the framework of a UNESCO workshop on the Implementation of the Hague Convention and its two Protocols, organized by the Austrian Armed Forces. The CPX for the workshop will concentrate on the problem of protecting "special cultural property" in archives and libraries.
* Intensive and practice-oriented basic instruction concerning all aspects of the "Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict" and its two Protocols dealing with military property protection, as part of the course on international law.
* Intensive and practice-oriented basic instruction concerning all aspects of aforementioned civilian protection of historic buildings and monuments, within the framework of Modules I and II on the "Execution of Legal Standards", at the Theresan Military Academy.
* Within the framework of basic legal training for the PSO Module agreed upon by the European Ministers of Defence, held at the Military Academy as of autumn 2010.
e-mail: hubert.speckner@bmlvs.gv.at
This article should be cited like this: H. Speckner, Protection of Cultural Property in the Austrian Armed Forces. Research and Instruction, Forum Archaeologiae 55/VI/2010 (http://farch.net).