Why ratifying the Hague Convention matters

Earlier this year the UK decided finally to ratify the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two tougher protocols of 1954 and 1999. A bill is now being debated by Parliament that could become UK law early next year. This is an astonishing turn of events: from being one of the worlds few major military powers (and the only one deploying its forces in combat on a regular basis) not to have ratified the convention, the UK will become t