Page 50 - Coespu 2019-1

IN DEPTH

THE ROLE OF NATO SP

CULTURAL PROPERTY PROTECTION

By Stefano Bergonzini document will focus efforts and re- relevant actors and the “traditio-
cognise fundamental international nal” NATO military instrument of
treaties, including the 1970 “UNE- power, to address these challenges
SCO Convention on the Means properly. SP can expand the rea-
Since now Cultural Property Pro- on Prohibiting and Preventing the ch of the Alliance creating effects
tection (CPP) has regrettably been Illicit Import, Export and Transfer in the remit of police, hitherto ne-
only sporadically mentioned and of Ownership of Cultural Proper- glected by NATO, also to protect CP.
partially covered in NATO doctri- ty”, often overlooked by military An adaptation-inspired approach
ne, but the lack of a comprehen- practitioners. It should be condu- to SP relegates it to stabilization
sive document on this cross cutting cive to mainstreaming CPP throu- activities, building police capabi-
topic within the context of Human ghout the NATO doctrinal corpus, lities and capacity if they are ina-
Security is finally being addressed including the “Allied Joint Doctrine dequate and temporarily replacing
in line with the “Policy for the Pro- for Stability Policing” (AJP-3.22) . the Host Nation (HN) police force.
3
tection of Civilians” and the rela- NATO operations in (armed) con- In terms of CPP this includes re-
1
ted Implementation Action Plan . flicts and crises in general and cognising CP in the local context,
2
Once approved, the new NATO cultural property (CP) in particular contributing to geo-/locating it,
Bi-Strategic Command Directi- benefit from the inclusion of Sta- feeding no-target-lists and deve-
ve will go beyond the merely au- bility Policing (SP) to bridge the loping priorities in safeguarding
4
thoritative nature of doctrine and police-related component of the and respecting items, sites and
5
provide direction and guidance security gap. This policing gap is people (e.g. artefacts and relics,
regarding CPP in the prepara- the capability/capacity void betwe- museums, monuments, and ruins,
tion, planning and conduct of en the police-related needs of the archaeological digs, collection cu-
NATO and NATO-led operations civilian population and the inade- rators and directors of museums).
and missions, as well as training, quacy of the IPF (if present), other It means also that SP collects and
education, and evaluation. The

50