Cultural coalition lobbies chairman of Iraq Inquiry

A coalition of cultural heritage organisations has written an open letter to John Chilcot, chairman of the Iraq Inquiry, calling for it to look at the problems faced by British forces safeguarding cultural heritage.

In particular, the coalition, which includes the UK National Commission for Unesco, the British Academy, the Council for British Archaeology, the British Institute for the Study of Iraq and the Museums Association, would like the inquiry to address the extent of cultural property awareness training for the armed forces, and the fact that the UK has not yet ratified the 1954 Hague Convention.

Peter Stone, a member of the UK National Commission for Unesco's culture committee, a professor of heritage studies at Newcastle University and an advisor to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) over the protection of cultural property in Iraq, said: "The MoD took cultural heritage into consideration when planning for deployment, but not in great detail.

There were no troops deployed in 2003 to protect museums and monuments in Iraq. It was a political decision to invade without the people in place to protect Iraq's cultural heritage.

"We would like to see the UK ratify the Hague Convention, which would see a legal responsibility for forces to take account of cultural heritage.

"That would mean that troops would receive training recognising that cultural heritage is important and showing that in practice on the ground."

A spokesman for the MoD said: "We would never pretend that there are not lessons to be learned by ourselves and our coalition partners.

"Whether or not cultural heritage should be included in the Iraq Inquiry is a matter for Sir John."