In the framework of permanent cooperation with the United Nations’ bodies and institutions, our Association informed the UN Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights, Alexandra Xanthaki, to prepare her next report on cultural rights indicators that will help to monitor the implementation of cultural rights at the national level.
The ARC’s submission, prepared by Borys Babin, Andrii Chvaliuk, Olesya Tsybulko, and other experts, and published on the official UN web-sources now, stressed that Russia-controlled troops and mercenaries committed in Ukraine, during the ongoing aggression, gross violations of international law, such as the attacks on cultural objects, destroying and looting Ukrainian cultural heritage, disseminating Nazis’, racial and discriminatory propaganda and hate speech.
The ARC’s submission added that the situation of Russian aggression and occupation of the Ukrainian territories is an example of the fact that under conditions of international armed
conflict, special indicators of the level of protection of cultural rights should be elaborated.
They must include the level of compliance by the parties to the conflict with international humanitarian law regarding guarantees for the cultural environment, which includes the number of damaged and destroyed historical and cultural monuments, the number of stolen and misappropriated cultural objects and artifacts, the number of injured cultural figures, the level and parameters of the use by the parties to the conflict of means of protecting cultural objects, in particular physical protection, evacuation, marking and digitization.
They must also include the level of compliance with international criminal law regarding guarantees for the cultural environment, the level of international crimes committed against cultural objects, the presence of national and international proceedings initiated regarding the relevant facts and persons involved, and the number and forms of bringing them to justice.
Furthermore, they must include also the issues of the human rights law, regarding guarantees for the cultural environment, including the level of censorship restrictions, the degree, format and number of penalties and other repressions for publications and events in the field of cultural life, the degree of use by the parties to the conflict of hate speech, racist and discriminatory rhetoric, and the reflection of these facts in impartial reports by human rights structures, international organizations and judicial bodies.
They must also include the issues of education, including the content of curricula, the language of education, and the educational materials used, reflected in the regulatory framework and in the management practice of conflict parties.
They must also include the issues of usage by the parties to the conflict of cultural or quasi-cultural means as a form of cognitive warfare and propaganda, in particular in third countries and at the global level, the level of use of such means to “justify” aggression, other international crimes, as well as the occupation and attempts to annex territories, the extent of the use of disinformation and fakes, in particular with the use of modern technologies, including artificial intelligence.
The ARC’s submission stressed that relevant proposals to indicators, elaborated on the Crimean examples, were discussed by our experts on the sessions of Strategic Forum “Future of Crimea”.
