Efficiency through Synergies?

In recent years, UNESCO has been exploring a new intersectional approach that asks to what extent the use of synergies between the 1972 World Heritage Convention (WHC) and the 1999 Second Protocol (SP) to the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict of 1954 may be able to improve cultural heritage protection in the event of armed conflict. A major research question of this article is whether it will be possible to improve the number of inscriptions on the List of Enhanced Protection by aligning WHC and SP procedures. Along the same lines, it will be analysed to what extent monitoring systems and operational activities on the ground can be made more effective. It will be argued that it is crucial to develop a common understanding among the key stakeholders (military and civil) of the means and methods to create synergies between legally binding Culture Conventions. If the intersectional approach to build synergies analysed here proves to be sustainable, it could increase the unity and efficiency conflict. At the same time, an over-burdening of the agenda in the context of building synergies should be avoided.