The central place destruction of cultural heritage played in the Bosnian War was recognized by Annex 8 of the Dayton Peace Agreement. It provided for a Commission to Preserve National Monuments with a mandate to receive and decide on petitions for designating property as National Monuments to ensure their preservation and protection. Run for the first 5 years of its existence by Unesco, it was heavily criticized for being secretive, ineffectual and achieving little. The authority for the Commission was transferred to the Bosnian government in December 2000 who introduced a new membership and is pursuing an active programme of designating monuments.
