Photo by Daniel Lincoln ()

Tianchu Gao is an IPilogue Writer and a 1L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

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On Tuesday, March 8, 2022, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video recording that the Russian army flattened a 19th-century wooden church in the village of Viazivka in the Zhytomyr region. The architectural monument was an important national cultural heritage, listed under protection number 108. Olha Rutkovska, a member of the Ukraine council for the protection of monuments, described it as “.”

UNESCO, the United Nations’ cultural agency, responded swiftly to the challenge of protecting Ukraine’s cultural heritage from the war and bolstered the protective measures. Its first move was to mark the important cultural sites and monuments with the distinctive “blue shield” emblem as protected areas under international law. It aims to avoid deliberate or accidental damage to the monuments.

The is the primary source of international humanitarian law that UNESCO relies on to protect cultural heritage. The destruction of cultural heritage during World War II served as the impetus for the Convention and the recognition of the importance of cultural heritage for all peoples of the world. All permanent members of the UN Security Council, including Russia, are bound by the Convention to refrain from violent acts against cultural properties. It also urges governments to take active moves to prevent damage and provide adequate protection in times of emergency.

Cultural heritage protection was further upgraded by the in 1999, in response to the devastating damage of cultural properties in the . The protocol established an enhanced protection regime for cultural property and narrowed the exemptions from such protection. The protocol also formulated highly advanced rules on individual criminal responsibilities for breaches of the obligations.

It is undeniable that the international community has achieved much progress in protecting cultural heritage in armed conflicts. However, the efficacy of the Convention in checking Russia’s hostile acts against Ukraine’s cultural properties remains questionable. Firstly, there is insufficient awareness among armed forces about the Convention mandates. Former US President Donald Trump to attack 52 Iranian cultural sites as retaliation against potential attacks from Iran in January 2020. He was heavily criticized immediately for his ignorance of the law and dismissive attitude about cultural heritage. Indeed, few armed forces have established their or conducted relevant training, as required by the Convention, to protect cultural property in military conflicts. It is questionable if Russia would uphold the values established in the Hague Convention, even under increasing pressure from the international community.

According to Professor Peter Probst from Tufts University, the results brought by the Convention and its listing of cultural properties is a “.”Ěý The grew from 12 in 1977 to 1121 in 2019. On the one hand, it raised global awareness of the value of cultural heritage. However, it also made the heritage sites prominent targets, especially in asymmetrical warfare between nations and non-state actors. The destruction of cultural sites is a powerful attack on the other side’s beliefs and values. Many believe that it is part of Putin’s strategy to “” Ukraine as an independent state.

The protection of Ukraine’s cultural heritage requires urgent attention from the international community. Only collective recognition and effort can protect cultural properties from destruction.

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Tetyana Yablonska, (1967)

Claire Wortsman is an IPilogue Senior Editor and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

On International Women’s Day in Odessa, Ukraine, soldiers friends and family flowers despite the fear of an imminent Russian attack. Soldier Dmitriy pink and yellow tulips for female soldiers, while flower vendor Alena tied a bouquet of blue and yellow tulips in honour of the Ukrainian colours. Flowers hold a special place in Ukrainian cultural heritage, which now faces of destruction.

On March 1, invading Russian forces shelled (Babyn Yar)—a Nazi killing ground where thousands of Jews, Romani people, psychiatric patients, and war prisoners were massacred. The shelling killed at five people, and injured another five. While the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center was not directly , the center had plans to expand to a nearby building that suffered damage in the bombing.

In the wake of destruction and killing at the symbolic site, President Zelenskyy , “[the Russian invaders] all have orders to erase our history, erase our country, erase us all.” It is important to understand and Ukrainian history and culture more than ever. Every day, especially during , it is also essential to understand and celebrate women’s contributions to the foundations of history and culture.

Flowers and Female Ukrainian Artists

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recognized the decorative painting as a valuable part of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. Petrykivka is named for Petrykivka village, where the Ukrainian Zaporizhian Cossack practice of decorating living quarters and belongings with fantastic flowers and natural elements was preserved despite the brutal Soviet regime. A local non-governmental organization, Agency for Regional Development of Dnipropetrovsk Region, the Petrykivka trademark.

Believed to protect the wearer from sorrow and evil, flower ornaments in the Petrykivka style were applied by women . Tetiana Pata, Nadia Bilokin, Paraska Pavlenko, Iryna Pylypenko, and Pelaheia Hlushchenko are known as the of the transformative period of Petrykivka art where local artists integrated the style to their traditional mediums following its re-discovery. The many talented Ukrainian female artists that have emerged throughout history have carved out their unique styles. Still, many have integrated uniquely Ukrainian elements of Petrykivka into their work, whether in the form of vibrant flora or fantastical fauna.

Petrykivka can transform everyday objects into art. During summers spent with her great-grandmother in Poltava, a Ukrainian village north of Petrykivka, Victoria dishes, vases, and kettles adorned with clusters of red guelder rose berries and orange flowers. Like Petrykivka artists, Odessa-born does not restrict herself to canvass. She is known for her wall paintings and has also created reminiscent of Petrykivka—accessories like handbags and wallets adorned with lively flora. Energetic florals are also alive in , whose work also features the poignant .

, an original member of —the first artist-run, not-for-profit gallery dedicated to women and non-binary artists in the USA—is another Ukrainian artist whose work features flowers. Dorosh fabric and textile work, a traditionally female craft, to explore complex topics such as the slippage of play between childhood and adulthood. Textile work was an important feature of art.Ěý For example, is a fabric sample where overlapping oblong shapes of varying blues, greens, and yellows resemble a collection of flower petals.

A discussion of flowers and female Ukrainian artists would be incomplete without , the self-taught painter of floral scenes who made Picasso , “if we had an artist of this level of skill, we would make the whole world talk about her.” Bilokur’s Happiness, Storks brought the baby (1950) features sunflowers. As Ukraine’s national flower, the has quickly become a symbol of resistance. Sunflowers have inspired Ukrainian artists from to to , each in their unique way.

The magical and bright flora featured in Ukrainian female artists’ work throughout history provides a stark contrast to the images coming out of Ukraine in recent weeks. As Ukraine’s humanitarian crisis continues during Women’s History Month, the comments of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola remain on my mind. He the “incredibly brave women of Ukraine who are fighting, forced to shelter their loved ones in bunkers, giving birth in metro stations and leading on the frontline.” On my mind, too, are the Ukrainian women who have built up the intangible cultural heritage of humanity and their images of strength, hope, and peace.

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Maria Prymachenko, (1982)

Claire Wortsman is an IPilogue Senior Editor and a 2L JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School.

On February 25, invading Russian forces the Ivankiv Historical and Local Museum, and the many culturally and historically significant pieces it housed, to the ground. The Museum’s collection included 25 paintings by Maria Prymachenko, the celebrated Ukrainian artist world-famous for her colourful folk art style. Prymachenko’s great-granddaughter that a local man ran into the burning building and was able to save some of the precious works. Yet many more pieces were lost, and millions of artworks and monuments at risk from Russia’s military onslaught. These those dating back to the Byzantine and Baroque periods, as well as UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Ukrainian Minister of Culture Olexandr Tkachenko has that Russia lose its UNESCO membership. The destruction of Ukrainian cultural heritage at the hands of Russia is not a novel occurrence -Ěý the 2014 annexation of Crimea and the conflicts in Donetsk and Luhansk to the loss of dozens of archaeological, historical, and artistic collections. James Cuno, President of the J. Paul Getty Trust, released a condemning the cultural atrocities taking place in Ukraine alongside the unfathomable human and environmental losses. Cuno identifies that cultural heritage has the power to unite us, and is critical for achieving peace, making it a common target in war; a means of destroying a society by erasing its memory. Officials preserving and protecting cultural legacies in times of conflict has the power to bind local people and foster peace, once the shooting stops.

The importance of safeguarding cultural property extends beyond the borders of Ukraine. The preamble of the recognizes that “… any damage to cultural property, irrespective of the people it belongs to, is a damage to the cultural property of all humanity, because every people contributes to the world’s culture.” Putin’s continued violation of international law is a blow to the international legal order – one that Yale Law School’s Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro must be met with an aggressive and resolute response.

Uncertainty and crisis in Ukraine have left many fleeing their homes, while museum employees remain behind to look out for their collections in whatever way they can – whether by standing guard, hiding art in basements, or (for those farther away from the war zones) transforming into a place of temporary respite for those who have fled. Fedir Androshchuk, the director of the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, is standing alongside two colleagues in an to safeguard the museum from attack or looting. He that “the museum is located in the middle of a rich cultural heritage area near three fine churches, but also close to some possible targets (the Ukrainian security service and border forces).” This proximity to potential military targets is significant from an international law perspective, [1], as the carves a “military necessity” exception out of its protections for cultural property. As by Captain Joshua E. Kastenberg, “Where a defender state harbors items of military value… in or near cultural property, the property loses its legal protections.”[2]

Androshchuk also , “there is no guarantee that the Ukrainian cultural heritage will not be plundered and transferred to Russian museums, especially given that Kyiv has a special place in Putin’s interpretation of Russian history and its roots.” The destruction of Ukraine’s cultural heritage serves the narrative of Vladimir Putin, who that Ukraine is a nation and that Ukrainians are a people. Perpetrators of the intentional destruction of cultural heritage seek to destroy the communities for which the heritage is perceived as an essential element of their own life, cultural identity, and distinctiveness.[3] Yet Putin’s assault has backfired – Ukraine itself, the West against Russia, and images of Prymachenko’s uniquely Ukrainian style around the world.

[1] Captain Joshua E. Kastenberg, “The Legal Regime for Protecting Cultural Property During Armed Conflict,” Air Force Law Review 42 A.F.L Rev. (1997)

[2] Ibid

[3] Federico Lenzerini, “Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage,” The Oxford Handbook of International Cultural Heritage Law (2020)

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