Badge, Cultural Property Protection Unit, 2018

Cloth badge with the Blue Shield International emblem, used to signify sites protected by the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The badge is authorised for wear by the Hague, Department Culture, Media and Sport and the Army Dress Committee.

The Cultural Property Protection Unit is a reserve unit set up following the British Government's formal ratification of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, in 2017. The first commander of the cross-service unit was Lieutenant-Colonel Tim Purbrick of The Royal Lancers.

The unit is tasked with advising on the safeguarding of artworks and cultural heritage sites in war zones. Recruits with academic, defence and law enforcement backgrounds are sought. Media coverage of the unit's creation referenced units created to track down artworks appropriated by German occupation forces in World War Two, celebrated in the film, 'The Monuments Men'.