Issues in the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Iraq

Iraq is home to many of the large archaeological sites of the world like Babylon Ashur, Nineveh, Nimrud, and Samarra. Due to the great quantity and quality of Iraq's cultural resources, it is known as one of the great source countries for international antiquities market and is inherently at risk of looting and pillage of its vast cultural property resources. There are three international agreements on the protection of cultural property whereby Iraq is a party; the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illegal Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illicitly Exported Cultural Property. However, after the U.S occupation in 2003, Iraq has become very unstable and has given way to uncontrolled looting and illegal trade of antiquities, despite the existence of international conventions and Iraqi laws on this matter. This study aims to analyse the legal protection for antiquities, in accordance with international and domestic laws and to recommend legal improvement on this matter. Towards these ends, this study employs the traditional legal method through document analysis. The study concluded that the conventions to safeguard cultural property are inadequate to deal with the situation in Iraq due to lack of commitment from the United States and the United Kingdom to be part of these conventions and make serious efforts to safeguard cultural property in Iraq.