Research area

When the destructive force of war is directed against cultural goods, it threatens not only the goods itself, but also the cultural traditions associated with them and, in extreme cases, entire cultures. The sub-project “Access to Cultural Goods in War and Post-War Periods – An Ethical Analysis. At once a Contribution to Establishing an Ethics of Access to Cultural Goods in International Perspective” therefore examines how access to cultural goods should be ensured even in the event of war.

Specifically, the project aims to determine what the ius in bello requires warring parties to do with regard to cultural goods and to what extent an obligation to return cultural goods taken in the course of hostilities and to restore destroyed cultural goods can be justified. The possibilities and significance of digital reproductions for restoring and maintaining access to cultural goods in post-war periods and during war itself will also be considered.

By taking a decidedly ethical perspective, the project seeks to broaden the debate originating from the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 14 May 1954, which has so far been conducted primarily in politics and jurisprudence, by adding a new, fundamental perspective. While a moral imperative to guarantee and secure access to cultural goods in the sense of the human right to cultural participation (Art. 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) is often implicitly present in these debates, it has not yet been specifically considered as a moral imperative and weighed against other fundamental moral norms that may conflict with it, such as the protection of life and limb of people under threat. Not least by explicitly reflecting on the implicit premises and normative assessments of previous international agreements and discussions, the project ultimately aims to develop scientifically sound, ethically grounded proposals for practical norms and the further development of positive law regarding accessing cultural goods in war and post-war periods.