Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby‐Traps and Other Devices (1980) and its amendments (1996)

This Protocol (which also applies to non-international armed conflicts if the State is party to the amendments) is an Annex to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects.

Art 6(1)(b)(ix) forbids in all circumstances the use of booby‐traps and of certain other devices which are in any way attached to or associated with historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples.

A very recent example of this is the landmines placed throughout the World Heritage site of Palmyra and city of Tadmur, and along the historic walls of the Tentative World Heritage site of Raqqa (and throughout the rest of the city) by ISIS.

Walls of ancient Raqqa

Walls of Raqqa, a Tentative World Heritage site, during the 2017 fighting. ISIS mined the walls with IEDs.

© Image by Qasioun News Agency (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTUxRiDzlAg) CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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