Cultural heritage could be described as a record of the genius of human beings. The legacy of artefacts, antiquities, sacred places as rituals, traditions and living expressions could be seen as unintelligible foot print left behind for the next generations to mark our path through this world. It’s unimaginable to separate a people’s cultural heritage from the people itself and their rights. At the present there are many complex legal cases on cultural heritage waiting to be settled. These cases are a judicial challenge for all stakeholders. For centuries international law has been developed as a vast legal framework to protect cultural heritage. Even though reality shows that laws cannot stop those motivated by malicious ideologies and those who convinced of their impunity, show contemptuous disregard for law itself. When States are supported to ratify those conventions and implement its protective instruments in their domestic legislation, it will help them to aid their own judiciary in prosecution and to protect this heritage through international cooperation.
This Research Guide is intended as a starting point for research in the field of Cultural Heritage. It provides the basic materials available in the Peace Palace Library, both in print and electronic format. Handbooks, leading articles, bibliographies, periodicals, serial publications and documents of interest are presented in the Selective Bibliography section. Links to the PPL Catalogue are inserted. The Library's subject heading (keyword) Cultural Heritage is instrumental for searching through the Catalogue. Special attention is given to our subscriptions on databases, e-journals, e-books and other electronic resources. Finally, this Research Guide features links to relevant websites and other online resources of particular interest.
Sources of international law
Treaties
Europe
- Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property Nicosia 2017
The purpose as outlined in the new Convention is to prevent and combat the intentional destruction of, damage to, and trafficking in cultural property by strengthening criminal justice responses to all offences relating to cultural property while facilitating co-operation on an international level. The work is being carried out in close collaboration with various international organisations, including UNIDROIT, UNESCO, UNODC and the European Union.
The Convention encourages us to recognize that objects and places are not, in themselves, what is important about cultural heritage. They are important because of the meanings and uses that people attach to them and the values they represent.
The revised Convention drew on twenty-two years of experience in implementing the original Convention. It established a body of new basic legal standards for Europe, to be met by national policies for the protection of archaeological assets as sources of scientific and documentary evidence, in line with the principles of integrated conservation.
The main purpose of the Convention is to reinforce and promote policies for the conservation and enhancement of Europe's heritage. It also affirms the need for European solidarity with regard to heritage conservation and is designed to foster practical co-operation among the Parties. It establishes the principles of "European co-ordination of conservation policies" including consultations regarding the thrust of the policies to be implemented.
- European Cultural Convention Paris 1954
The purpose of this Convention is to develop mutual understanding among the peoples of Europe and reciprocal appreciation of their cultural diversity, to safeguard European culture, to promote national contributions to Europe's common cultural heritage respecting the same fundamental values and to encourage in particular the study of the languages, history and civilisation of the Parties to the Convention. The Convention contributes to concerted action by encouraging cultural activities of European interest.
International
Referring to existing international human rights instruments, in particular to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights of 1948, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights of 1966 the Convention considers the deep-seated interdependence between the intangible cultural heritage and the tangible cultural and natural heritage.
The convention is intended to protect "all traces of human existence having a cultural, historical or archaeological character" which have been under water for over 100 years. This extends to the protection of shipwrecks, sunken cities, prehistoric art work, treasures that may be looted, sacrificial and burial sites, and old ports that cover the oceans' floors.
The Rome Statute established four core international crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression. Those crimes "shall not be subject to any statute of limitations". The Rome Statute explicitly protects cultural heritage under art 8, deeming its destruction to be a war crime.
To take international cooperation, UNIDROIT was asked by UNESCO to develop the Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (1995), as a complementary instrument to the 1970 Convention. States commit to a uniform treatment for restitution of stolen or illegally exported cultural objects and allow restitution claims to be processed directly through national courts. Moreover the UNIDROIT Convention covers all stolen cultural objects, not just inventoried and declared ones and stipulates that all cultural property must be returned.
This is the first Treaty with an international instrument dedicated to the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property.
- UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (Hague Convention) The Hague 1954
This is the first international treaty with a world-wide vocation focusing exclusively on the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict. It covers immovable and movable cultural heritage, including monuments of architecture, art or history, archaeological sites, works of art, manuscripts, books and other objects of artistic, historical or archaeological interest, as well as scientific collections of all kinds regardless of their origin or ownership.
- Treaty on the Protection of Artistic and Scientific Institutions and Historic Monuments (Roerich Pact) Washington 1935
The most important purpose of the Roerich Pact is the legal recognition that the defense of cultural objects is more important than the use or destruction of that culture for military purposes, and the protection of culture always has precedence over any military necessity.
Case-law
UN Declarations and Resolutions
Soft law
- "Documents: a Selection of Codes of Ethics: Archaeological Institute of America", International Journal of Cultural Property, 7 (1998), No. 1, pp. 190-241.
- Nafziger, J., and R. Paterson, Cultural Heritage Law, Report of the Johannesburg Conference-International Law Association, 77 (2016), pp. 758-850.
Reference works
- Blake, J. and L. Lixinski (eds), The 2003 UNESCO Intangible Heritage Convention: a Commentary, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2020.
- Forrest, C.J.S., International Law and the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Abingdon, Routledge, 2010.
- Francioni, F. and A.F. Vrdoljak, The Oxford Handbook of International Cultural Heritage Law, Oxford; New York, Oxford University Press, 2020.
- Francioni, F. (ed.), The 1972 World Heritage Convention: a Commentary, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008.
- O'Keefe, P.J. and L.V. Prott, Cultural Heritage Conventions and Other Instruments: a Compendium with Commentaries, Crickadarn, Institute of Art and Law, 2011.
Selected books and articles
- Bandle, A.L., The Sale of Misattributed Artworks and Antiques at Auction, Cheltham, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2016.
- Bendix, H.F. (et al.) (eds.), Heritage Regimes and the State, Göttingen, Göttingen University Press, 2013.
- Campfens, E., Cross-border Claims to Cultural Objects: Property or Heritage?, The Hague, Eleven International Publishing, 2021.
- Durbach, A., and L. Lixinski (eds), Heritage, Culture and Rights: Challenging Legal Discourses, Oxford, Hart Publishing, 2017.
- Hutt, S. (et al.), Cultural Property Law: A Practitioner's Guide to the Management, Protection, and Preservation of Heritage Resources, Second Edition, Chicago, American Bar Association, 2017.
- Jakubowski, A., K. Hausler and F. Fiorentin (eds.), Cultural Heritage in the European Union: a Critical Inquiry into Law and Policy, Leiden; Boston, Brill Nijhoff, 2019.
- Lagrange, E., S. Oeter, R. Uerpmann-Wittzack, Cultural Heritage and International Law: Objects, Means and Ends of International Protection, Cham, Springer International Publishing, 2018.
- Lixinski, L., Intangible Cultural Heritage in International Law, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2013.
- Lostal, M., International Cultural Heritage Law in Armed Conflict: Case Studies of Syria, Libya, Mali, the Invasion of Iraq, and the Buddhas of Bamiyan, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2017.
- Silverman, H. (et al.) (eds.), Heritage in Action: Making the Past in the Present, Cham, Springer, 2017.
- They, M., La protection internationale du patrimoine culturel de la mer: les compétences de l'État sur les biens culturels submergés, Leiden, Brill Nijhoff, 2018
- Vadi, V., Cultural Heritage in International Investment Law and Arbitration, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
- Vadi, V., and E.G.S. Schneider (eds.), Art, Cultural Heritage and the Market: Ethical and Legal Issues, Heidelberg, Springer, 2014.
- Aznar, M.J., “Exporting Environmental Standards to Protect Underwater Cultural Heritage in the Area”, in J. Crawford (et al.) (eds.), The International Legal Order: Current Needs and Possible Responses: Essays in Honour of Djamchid Momtaz, Leiden, Brill Nijhoff, 2017, pp. 253-273.
- Badar, M.E., and N. Higgins, “Discussion Interrupted: The Destruction and Protection of Cultural Property under International Law and Islamic Law - the Case of Prosecutor v. Al Mahdi”, International Criminal Law Review, 17 (2017), No. 3, pp. 486-516.
- Broude, T., “Mapping the Potential Interactions between UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage Regime and World Trade Law”, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Legal Research Paper, No. 17-30, 2017.
- Clark, J.N., “The Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict: The ‘Human Element’ and the Jurisprudence of the ICTY”, International Criminal Law Review, 18 (2018), No. 1, pp. 36-66.
- Fincham, D., “Intentional Destruction and Spoliation of Cultural Heritage under International Criminal Law”, South Texas College of Law Houston, March 7, 2017.
- Frerking, C., and H. Gill-Frerking, “Human Remains as Heritage: Categorisation, Legalisation and Protection”, Art, Antiquity and Law, 22 (2017), No. 1, pp. 29-48.
- Giardini, G., "The Principle of International Restitution of Cultural Property in the 1954 Hague Convention: the UNIDROIT Contribution", Uniform Law Review, 23 (2018), No. 1, pp. 42-80.
- Hill, C.V., “Killing a Culture: the Intentional Destruction of Cultural Heritage in Iraq and Syria under International Law”, Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law, 45 (2016), No. 1, pp. 191-220.
- Juvelier, B., "Salvaging History: Underwater Cultural Heritage and Commercial Salvage", American University International Law Review, 32 (2017) No. 5, Article 2, pp. 1023-1045.
- Libman, C., "Preserving Culture During War: How to Prevent Terrorist Groups from Profiting from the Sale of Antiquities", Suffolk Transnational Law Review, 42 (2019), No. 2, pp. 365-411.
- Liwanag, M.A., “The Case for Ethical Guidelines: Preventing Conflict in the Selection of World Heritage Sites”, in H. Silverman (et al.) (eds.), Heritage in Action: Making the Past in the Present, Cham, Springer, 2017, pp. 19-32.
- Kearney, A., "Intangible Cultural Heritage: Global Awareness and Local Internet", in L. Smith and N. Akagawa (eds), Intangible Heritage, London, Routledge, 2009, pp. 209-225.
- Kolliopoulos, A., "La destruction ciblée des monuments et sites archéologiques en période de conflit armé et la dimension culturelle de la paix internationale", Annuaire français de droit international, 61 (2015), pp. 119-143.
- Kouroupas, M.P., "Preservation of Cultural Heritage: a Tool of International Public Diplomacy", in J.A.R. Nafziger (ed.), Cultural Heritage Issues: the Legacy of Conquest, Colonization and Commerce?, Leiden, Nijhoff, 2009, pp. 325-334.
- Lixinski, L., and L. Schreiber, “The Limits of Framing in International Law: The Shortcomings of International Heritage Protection in the ISIS Conflicts”, RUMLAE Research Paper, No. 17-4, 2017.
- Nafziger, J., and R. Paterson, "Cultural Heritage Law", Report of the Johannesburg Conference-International Law Association, 77 (2016), pp. 758-850.
- Posner, E.A., “The International Protection of Cultural Property: Some Skeptical Observations”, Univ. of Chicago Public Law Working Paper No. 141, 2006.
- Pavoni, R., "Cultural Heritage and State Immunity (March 29, 2018)", in: F. Francioni and A.F. Vrdoljak (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Cultural Heritage Law, Oxford, Oxford University Press, Forthcoming 2018.
- Petrovic, J., “The Cultural Dimension of Peace Operations: Peacekeeping and Cultural Property” in: A.H. Campbell (ed.), Global Leadership Initiatives for Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding, Hershey, IGI Global, 2018.
- Renold, M.A., "Stolen Art: the Ubiquitous Question of Good Faith", in Resolution of Cultural Property Disputes, The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 2004, pp. 251-263.
- Ronzitti, N., “Sunken Warships and Cultural Heritage”, in J. Crawford (et al.) (eds), The International Legal Order: Current Needs and Possible Responses: Essays in Honour of Djamchid Momtaz, Leiden, Brill Nijhoff, 2017, pp. 476-486.
- Scovazzi, T., “The Relationship between Two Conventions Applicable to Underwater Cultural Heritage”, in J. Crawford (et al.) (eds), The International Legal Order: Current Needs and Possible Responses: Essays in Honour of Djamchid Momtaz, Leiden, Brill Nijhoff, 2017, pp. 504-518. [e-article]
- Smith, J.E., “A ‘Just and Fair Solution’: Creating an Environment for Resolving Nazi Era Art Restitution Claims Equitably”, Maryland Journal of International Law, 31 (2017), pp. 257-282. [PDF]
- Soopramanien, R., “International Trade in Indigenous Cultural Heritage: What Protection Does International Law Provide for Indigenous Cultural Goods and Services in International Commerce?”, Stanford Journal of International Law, 53 (2017), No. 2, pp 225-248.
- Srinivasan, M., S.R. Pandian and A. Enoch, "International Crimes: Cyber Crime, Crimes against Cultural Heritage, Environmental Crimes, and Money Laundering", in S. Kethineni (ed.), Comparative and International Policing, Justice, and Transnational Crime, Durham, NC, Carolina Academic Press, 2010, pp. 385-408.
- Symeonides, S.C., "A Choice-of-Law Rule for Conflicts Involving Stolen Cultural Property", Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 38 (2005), No. 4, pp. 1177-1198.
- Tabet, Y., “Acting in Times of Crisis: The Arab States as an Exemplary Case for UNESCO's New Challenges in the Safeguarding of Cultural Heritage”, Art, Antiquity and Law, 21 (2016), No. 4, pp. 353-372.
- Titi, C., “International Dispute Settlement in Cultural Heritage Law and in the Protection of Foreign Investment: From Collision to Cross-Fertilisation”, Journal of International Dispute Settlement, 8 (2017), No.3, pp. 535-556.
- Voon, T., “Restricting Trade in Cultural Property: National Treasures at the Intersection between Cultural Heritage and International Trade Law”, in F. Francioni and A. Filipa Vrdoljak (eds.), Oxford Handbook of International Cultural Heritage Law, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2018, Forthcoming. [PDF] Jan.
- Vrdoljak, A.F., "Unravelling the Cradle of Civilization 'Layer by Layer': Iraq, its Peoples and Cultural Heritage", in M. Langfield, W. Logan and M.N. Craith (eds.), Cultural Diversity, Heritage and Human Rights: Intersections in Theory and Practice, London, Routledge, 2010, pp. 62-82.
- Warren, J., "War and the Cultural Heritage of Iraq: a Sadly Mismanaged Affair", in S. Barakat, Reconstructing Post-Saddam Iraq, Abingdon, Routledge, 2008, pp. 251-266.
Periodicals, serial publications
- Aedon: rivista di arte e diritto on line
- Art, Antiquity and Law
- DePaul-LCA Journal of Art & Entertainment Law
- International Journal of Cultural Property
- Yearbook of Cultural Property Law
Bibliographies
- Bruhn, P., Beutekunst: Bibliographie des internationalen Schrifttums über das Schicksal des im Zweiten Weltkrieg von der Roten Armee in Deutschland erbeuteten Kulturgutes, München, Otto Sagner, 2003.
- Fiedler, W. and S. Turner, Bibliography on the Law of the International Protection of Cultural Property, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2003.
- Statius Muller, M. and H. Thyssen, "Selected Bibliography", in The Cultural Heritage of Mankind, Leiden, Nijhoff, 2008, pp. 883-1037.
- Centre universitaire du droit de l'art
- Cultural Protection Treaties and Other International Agreements
- CulturalHeritageLaw.org
- European Parliamentary Research Service Blog: Regulating imports of cultural goods (EU Legislation in Progress)
- Features - Legal Protection of Cultural Property: A Selective Resource Guide, by Louise Tsang
- Heritage Law - The home of Heritage Law Europe
- ICCROM International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property
- ICOMOS
- Institute of Art and Law
- International Council of Museums
- Lootedart.com - Central Registry of Information on Looted Cultural Property 1933-1945
- UNECSO Cultural Property: Its Illicit Trafficking and Restitution
- UNESCO Database of National Cultural Heritage Laws