In 2016, in response to recent attacks on cultural heritage sites in Syria, Iraq, and Timbuktu, the J. Paul Getty Trust convened a meeting at the British Academy in London to discuss the need for an international framework to protect cultural heritage in zones of armed conflict. To further explore these questions, the Trust subsequently launched the J. Paul Getty Trust Occasional Papers in Cultural Heritage Policy.

The fourth issue of the J. Paul Getty Trust Occasional Papers in Cultural Heritage Policy is the result of a multiday convening on the issue of cultural heritage under siege. It features an edited collection of presentations and discussions by nineteen scholars and practitioners of diverse specialties related to the field of cultural heritage.

• Foreword
• Introduction
• 1. Populations at Risk
• 2. Cultural Heritage at Risk
• 3. Military Perspectives and Costs: War, Occupation, and Intervention
• 4. International Law: Problems and Prospects
• 5. Social and Cultural Costs
• Next Steps and Concluding Remarks
• About the Participants

James Cuno, President and CEO, J. Paul Getty Trust

Thomas G. Weiss, Presidential Professor of Political Science, CUNY Graduate Center

Simon Adams, Executive Director, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect

Irina Bokova, Director-General, UNESCO (2009–17)

Mounir Bouchenaki, Adviser, UNESCO, Adviser, Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities

Hartwig Fischer, Director, British Museum

Helen Frowe, Professor of Practical Philosophy, Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Stockholm University; Director, Stockholm Centre for the Ethics of War and Peace, Stockholm University

Benjamin Isakhan, Associate Professor of Politics and Policy Studies, Deakin University

Edward C. Luck, Arnold A. Salzman Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs, Columbia University

Derek Matravers, Professor of Philosophy, The Open University; Senior Member, Darwin College, Cambridge

Lynn Meskell, Shirley and Leonard Ely Professor of Humanities and Sciences, Department of Anthropology, Stanford University

Mary Miller, Director, Getty Research Institute

Luis Monreal, Director-General, Aga Khan Trust for Culture

Timothy Potts, Director, J. Paul Getty Museum

Scott Sagan, Caroline S. G. Munro Professor of Political Science, Mimi and Peter Haas University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, Senior Fellow, Center for International Security and Cooperation, Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University

Ismail Serageldin, Emeritus Librarian of Alexandria, Library of Alexandria, Adviser to the Egyptian prime minister in matters concerning culture, science, and museums

Kavita Singh, Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Jennifer Welsh, Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Security, Director, Centre for International Peace and Security Studies, McGill University

Paul H. Wise, Richard F. Behrman Professor of Child Health and Safety, Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy, Senior Fellow, Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law, and the Center for, International Security and Cooperation, Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University