The Practice Of International Law On The Iraqi Cultural Heritage

After the Second World War,with the disintegration of the imperialist cultural order,international law in the field of cultural heritage protection gradually developed and matured under the guidance of two different theoretical paths of cultural internationalism and cultural nationalism,reflecting that a new and more equal cultural order began to be rebuilt around the world after cultural imperialism,Iraq’s use of its ancient civilization to enhance its own cultural cohesion and political identity,as well as the academic interest of countries around the world in the civilization of ancient Mesopotamia,are the embodiment of the new cultural order after World War II.The international legal system of cultural heritage centered on the 1954 Hague Convention and the 1970 UNESCO Convention completely failed in the 1991 Gulf War,the 2003 Iraq war and the post-war Iraq.It has aroused the public attention,the reflection on the causes of the cultural holocaust and the reexamination of the current international legal system.Firstly,respectively under the theoretical tradition of "cultural internationalism" and "cultural nationalism" in the international law of cultural heritage after World War II,this paper analyzes the specific contents of relevant laws and regulations with Iraq;Secondly,it analyzes the historical background,causes and consequences of the Iraqi cultural heritage tragedy,and tries to find out the direction to solve the problem of "why the current international law cannot play its due role in the Iraqi case";Finally,this paper discusses the causes of the above problems in the two categories of armed conflict and antiquities smuggling;Finally,based on the in-depth analysis of the reasons and an overview of the efforts made by Iraq and the international community to make up for the loss of cultural heritage after the war,this paper believes that if we want to develop the cultural heritage protection in Iraq continuously,we should recognize the contradiction and unity of the traditional theory of cultural internationalism and cultural nationalism.