Denmark finally accessed to the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention

Denmark accessed to the Second Protocol of 1999 to the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Armed Conflict on the 5. September 2018.

The Protocol strengthens several provisions of the 1954 Convention, extends the reach of the convention to non-international conflicts, and also adds new obligations.

The accession marks an important step for Denmark’s work with cultural heritage protection at the national and international level. 

The road to ratification has been long and winding. Denmark ratified the 1954 Convention in 2003 - 49 years after signing the Convention - with the purpose of ratifying the Second Protocol. However, concerns in the Ministry of Justice about possible implications to national law stalled the process. 

The government restarted the process in 2015 on the basis of the recommendations made in a report from the Danish Institute for International Studies, War and Cultural Property, written by Frederik Rosén and Anne Østrup.

The Danish Government decided the 23. June 2017 to ratify the Second Protocol .

Read the Danish legislative proposal here (Danish)

Read CHAC's recommendation to the legislative proposal here (Danish)

Read the Danish Red Cross comment on the proposal here

Read the Second Protocol on UNESCO’s website

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