International Law and Common Concerns of Humankind: The Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage

The concept of the “common concern of humankind” (CCH) has gradually been incorporated into international law. Following the 2025 Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on climate change, its international legal status is beyond doubt. International law attributes significant consequences to the CCH qualification, which essentially fall within the sphere of State responsibility. Ulti-mately, States have taken on board the responsibility of fulfilling the obligations they have undertaken for the benefit of humanity and the international community as a whole, and not merely to pursue their own individual and collective inter-ests. Today, the concept of CCH is associated with two global challenges: climate change and biodiversity loss.

This book explores the possibility of extending the CCH designation to include the “intentional destruction of the cultural heritage of humankind” (IDCHH). A comprehensive definition of IDCHH is provided. The arguments in favour of such inclusion are based on a systematic comparison of the qualifying features of the two legal concepts: CCH and IDCHH. These arguments also consider a modern, integrated approach to solving major global problems internationally, which recog-nises the destruction of cultural heritage, climate change and the loss of biodiver-sity as interconnected phenomena requiring consistent and uniform political and legal responses.