Deposit of the Instruments of Ratification to the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the Protocol for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and the Accession to the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict formulated on 26 March 1999 in the Hague

September 11, 2007

1. On September 10 (Mon), the Government of Japan deposited to the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris the Instruments of Ratification to “The Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict” (The Convention), and “The Protocol for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict” (The Protocol), and the Accession to “The Second Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict 1999” (The Second Protocol).

2.(1) The Convention stipulates that the States Parties to the Convention are obliged to take appropriate measures in the time of peace and respect cultural property in order to safeguard cultural property in the event of armed conflict.

(2) The Protocol stipulates that a state party to the Protocol is obliged to prevent the exportation of cultural property from a territory occupied by it during an armed conflict and takes into its custody cultural property imported into its territory from any occupied territory in order to prevent the exportation of cultural property from a territory occupied during an armed conflict.

(3) The Second Protocol stipulates the establishment of “Enhanced Protection” to protect important cultural property, specifically designated cultural property, and States Parties will criminalize certain activities as violation of the Convention.

3. The Convention and its Protocols constitute a principal part of the international legal framework for the protection of cultural property, together with the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (The World Heritage Convention) and the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. It is extremely meaningful for Japan to be a state party to these conventions in the view of advancing international cooperation in the field of protection of cultural property.

4. The Convention and its Protocols entered into force on August 7, 1956, and the Convention has 118 States Parties and the Protocol 96 States Parties as of September 10, 2007 (G8 countries except the U.S. and the U.K. have concluded both the Convention and the Protocol). The Second Protocol entered into force on March 9, 2004, and has 46 States Parties (Canada has concluded the Second Protocol among the G8 countries). In Japan, the Convention, the Protocol and the Second Protocol will enter into force on December 10, three months after the deposit of the instruments of ratification and accession.

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