Cultural heritage is being wiped out in wars, yet accountability rarely follows

In August, Russian missile and drone strikes across Ukraine, including in Odesa, damaged six UNESCO-protected sites, among them the 19th-century Alexandru Sturdza House. Ukraine's Ministry of Culture recorded 148 heritage sites damaged or destroyed that month alone. Ukrainian activist groups have repeatedly filed complaints with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Russia over cultural destruction and looting, but no indictments have followed.

Bijan Rouhani, a senior researcher focused on endangered archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa, says the obstacle is no longer a lack of evidence — satellite imagery and monitoring teams provide ample documentation — but jurisdiction and political will.

Damage across multiple regions

Similar losses are unfolding elsewhere. In 2023, an Israeli strike nearly destroyed Gaza's Great Omari Mosque, a site that had shifted through history from pagan temple to church to mosque to cathedral and back. In Iran, more than 100 sites were reportedly damaged during the aerial war with the US and Israel, including the UNESCO-listed Golestan Palace in Tehran. Sudan's civil war has halted preservation work at the ancient Meroe Pyramids, leaving them exposed to erosion.

A weak enforcement record

Since the 1954 Hague Convention, several agreements have strengthened protections for cultural property, and the ICC, established in 2002, can prosecute deliberate attacks on heritage sites as war crimes. Yet only one case has succeeded: in 2016, jihadist leader Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi was convicted and sentenced to nine years for destroying mausoleums and a mosque in Timbuktu, Mali.

Organisations such as the Aliph Foundation and Blue Shield International assist local museums with emergency evacuations and damage documentation, including specialised vehicles dubbed 'heritage ambulances.' Experts warn that without genuine commitment from major powers to enforce existing law, the destruction of cultural heritage in war will keep repeating without consequence.