JADRANKA PETROVIC - SJD Student Profile

Jadranka is a graduate of the University 'D_emal Bijedi_' Mostar (LLB) and The University of Melbourne (LLM). Currently, she is a candidate for the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science at the Melbourne Law School.

Abstract of SJD Thesis
'Deliberate Destruction of Cultural Property During Armed Conflict: How Does International Law Respond: The Case of the Old Bridge of Mostar
(expected completion date: December 2006)

The thesis concerns the international legal protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict. The ever-growing body of rules of international humanitarian law governing the protection of cultural property in time of armed conflict makes us assume that people do care about cultural property and that preservation of this property is of great importance for the entire international community. It also makes us assume that treaties containing these rules will be implemented in good faith. However, in armed conflicts both international and non-international, cultural property is often a first, yet forgotten victim of warfare.

The thesis examines legal implications of targeting objects of cultural property. It focuses on the question of accountability for harm willfully inflicted upon immovable cultural property of great importance to the cultural heritage of all humankind, such as monuments of architecture, art or history. The objective of the thesis is to critically evaluate responses of the existing international legal regime to the deliberate destruction of cultural property during armed conflict. The destruction of the 16th century 'Old Bridge' (Stari Most) of Mostar during one of the 1990s armed conflicts in the Balkans is the principal case study.

(January 2006)

Contact details:
law-apcml@unimelb.edu.au