The Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was adopted at The Hague (Netherlands) in 1954 in the wake of massive destruction of cultural heritage during the Second World War. It is the first international treaty with a worldwide vocation focusing exclusively on the protection of cultural heritage in the event of armed conflict.
This Convention is an international cooperation framework against the illicit trafficking of cultural property requiring States Parties to take preventative measures and adhere to restitution provisions. 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.
Read the full text of the Convention.
Source(s): http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/armed-conflict-and-heritage/convention-and-protocols/1954-hague-convention/The objectives of the 1970 Convention are to protect and safeguard the world cultural property against damage, theft, clandestine excavations, illicit import, export and transfer of ownership, trafficking, to implement preventive measures and raise awareness of the importance thereof, to establish a moral and ethical code for the acquisition of cultural property, to provide a platform among State Parties to the Convention for facilitating the recovery and return of stolen, illicitly excavated or illicitly exported cultural property, and to promote international cooperation and assistance.
For more information, visit the 1970 Convention webpage.
The same General Conference that adopted the Convention concerning the Protection of World Cultural and Natural Heritage (the World Heritage Convention) in 1972 also adopted the Recommendation concerning the Protection, at National Level, of the Cultural and Natural Heritage.
According to this Recommendation, “In conformity with their jurisdictional and legislative requirements, each State should formulate, develop and apply as far as possible a policy whose principal aim should be to co-ordinate and make use of all scientific, technical, cultural and other resources available to secure the effective protection, conservation and presentation of the cultural and natural heritage” (II. National policy, Article 3).
The Recommendation also encourages States to organise their public services and take appropriate protective, legal and financial measures that will contribute to the protection of cultural and natural heritage, and to undertake educational campaigns to inform the public about the importance of heritage, and to seek international co-operation and support when needed.
Source(s): https://whc.unesco.org/en/convention/The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, adopted in 2001, is intended to enable States to better protect their submerged cultural heritage.
The main principles laid out in the Convention are the obligation to preserve underwater cultural heritage, the prioritization of in-situ preservation and the stipulation that underwater cultural heritage should not be commercially exploited for trade or speculation, and that it should not be irretrievably dispersed.
For more information, visit the website of the 2001 Convention.
Source(s): http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/underwater-cultural-heritage/2001-convention/
The main goal of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage is to safeguard the practices, representations, expressions, knowledge and skills that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognize as part of their cultural heritage.
Such heritage may be manifested in domains such as oral traditions and expressions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practice about nature and the universe, and traditional craftsmanship. This definition provided in Article 2 of the Convention also includes the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated with intangible cultural heritage.
For more information, visit the website of the 2003 Convention.
Source(s): https://ich.unesco.org/en/working-towards-a-convention-00004
The Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, adopted in 2005 by the UNESCO General Conference, is a binding international legal instrument. Its goal is to protect and promote the diversity of cultural expressions, particularly as embodied and conveyed in cultural activities, goods and services, which are the vehicles of contemporary culture. It sets out to create a legal framework favourable to all with regard to the production, distribution/dissemination, access to and enjoyment of a wide range of cultural expressions of diverse origin.
The Convention highlights the decisive role of cultural policies and defines the rights and obligations of Parties with regard to the protection and promotion of the diversity of cultural expressions, both nationally and internationally. States have agreed on the urgent need for this instrument, given that the accelerating processes of globalization tend to heighten the disparities between those countries lacking and those possessing the capacity to create, produce and disseminate their cultural expressions.
For more information, visit the website of the 2005 Convention.
The Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape was adopted on 10 November 2011 by UNESCO General Conference. It outlines the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach, which moves beyond the preservation of the physical environment and focuses on the entire human environment with all of its tangible and intangible qualities. It seeks to increase the sustainability of planning and design interventions by taking into account the existing built environment, intangible heritage, cultural diversity, socio-economic and environmental factors along with local community values.
The HUL approach does not replace existing doctrines or conservation approaches; rather, it is an additional tool to integrate policies and practices of conservation of the built environment into the wider goals of urban development in respect of the inherited values and traditions of different cultural contexts. The tool is a “soft-law” to be implemented by Member States on a voluntary basis.
Source(s):
New Life for Historic Cities – The Historic Urban Landscape Approach Explained
https://whc.unesco.org/en/news/1026/ https://whc.unesco.org/en/hul/
On 19 November 2015, the 20th General Assembly of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention adopted a Policy on the Integration of a Sustainable Development Perspective into the Processes of the Convention.
The overall goal of the policy is to assist States Parties, practitioners, institutions, communities and networks, through appropriate guidance, to harness the potential of World Heritage properties and heritage in general, to contribute to sustainable development and therefore increase the effectiveness and relevance of the Convention whilst respecting its primary purpose and mandate of protecting the Outstanding Universal value of World Heritage properties.
In line with the ‘2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, adopted by the UN General Assembly, this policy revolves around the three dimensions of sustainable development, namely environmental sustainability, inclusive social development and inclusive economic development, complemented by the fostering of peace and security. Its adoption represents a significant shift in the implementation of the Convention and an important step in its history.
Source(s): https://whc.unesco.org/en/sustainabledevelopment/
On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development — adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a historic UN Summit — officially came into force. They are a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity.
Building on the success of the Millennium Development Goals, the SDGs include new areas such as climate change, economic inequality, innovation, sustainable consumption, peace and justice, among other priorities. The goals are interconnected – the key to success on one often involves tackling issues more commonly associated with another.
Read more about the Sustainable Development Goals.
Source(s): http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/sustainable-development-goals.html
The instruments of "acceptance" or "approval" of a treaty have the same legal effect as ratification and consequently express the consent of a state to be bound by a treaty. In the practice of certain states acceptance and approval have been used instead of ratification when, at a national level, constitutional law does not require the treaty to be ratified by the head of state [Arts.2 (1) (b) and 14 (2), Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969].
Source(s): United Nations Treaty Collection Glossary"Accession" is the act whereby a state accepts the offer or the opportunity to become a party to a treaty already negotiated and signed by other states. It has the same legal effect as ratification. Accession usually occurs after the treaty has entered into force. The Secretary-General of the United Nations, in his function as depositary, has also accepted accessions to some conventions before their entry into force. The conditions under which accession may occur and the procedure involved depend on the provisions of the treaty. A treaty might provide for the accession of all other states or for a limited and defined number of states. In the absence of such a provision, accession can only occur where the negotiating states were agreed or subsequently agree on it in the case of the state in question [Arts.2 (1) (b) and 15, Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties 1969].
Source(s): United Nations Treaty Collection Glossary
According to Paragraph 23 of the 'Policy Document for the Integration of a Sustainable Development Perspective into the Processes of the World Heritage Convention' (World Heritage Sustainable Development Policy), "Gender equality is one of UNESCO’s two global priorities. The UNESCO Priority Gender Equality Action Plan (2014-2021), moreover, requires Member States and the governing bodies of UNESCO regulatory instruments “to establish gender-sensitive, gender-responsive and gender-transformative policies and practices in the field of heritage”.
In addition, achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls is essential for achieving sustainable development, and is one of the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
The World Heritage Sustainable Development Policy also states that States Parties should:
“Ensure respect for gender equality throughout the full cycle of World Heritage processes, particularly in the preparation and content of nomination dossiers;
“Ensure social and economic opportunities for both women and men in and around World Heritage properties;
“Ensure equal and respectful consultation, full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership and representation of both women and men within activities for the conservation and management of World Heritage properties;
“When or where relevant, ensure that gender-rooted traditional practices within World Heritage properties, for example in relation to access or participation in management mechanisms, have received the full consent of all groups within the local communities through transparent consultation processes that fully respects gender equality.”
Source(s):
World Heritage Sustainable Development Policy
The UNESCO Priority Gender Equality Action Plan (2014-2021)
A nominated property is independently evaluated by two Advisory Bodies mandated by the World Heritage Convention: the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which respectively provide the World Heritage Committee with evaluations of cultural and of natural sites nominated. The third Advisory Body is the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), an intergovernmental organization which provides the Committee with expert advice on conservation of cultural sites, as well as on training activities.
Three international non-governmental or intergovernmental organizations are named in the Convention to advise the Committee in its deliberations.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international, non-governmental organization that provides the World Heritage Committee with technical evaluations of natural heritage properties and, through its worldwide network of specialists, reports on the state of conservation of listed properties. With more than 1000 members, IUCN was established in 1948 and is located in Gland, Switzerland.
The International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) provides the World Heritage Committee with evaluations of cultural and mixed properties proposed for inscription on the World Heritage List. It is an international, non-governmental organization founded in 1965, with an international secretariat in Paris.
The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) is an intergovernmental organization created to promote the conservation of all forms of cultural heritage, in every region of the world. Its mission is to provide Member States with the best tools, knowledge, skills and enabling environment to preserve their cultural heritage in all of its forms, for the benefit of all people. Through its work, ICCROM is contributing to the environmental, social and economic sustainability of communities.
Source(s): https://whc.unesco.org/en/advisorybodies
For example ministries of culture, ministries of the environments, national agencies for heritage or conservation, heritage boards etc.
Article 5 of the World Heritage Convention, states:
"To ensure that effective and active measures are taken for the protection, conservation and presentation of the cultural and natural heritage situated on its territory, each State Party to this Convention shall endeavor, in so far as possible, and as appropriate for each country:
to adopt a general policy which aims to give the cultural and natural heritage a function in the life of the community and to integrate the protection of that heritage into comprehensive planning programmes;
to set up within its territories, where such services do not exist, one or more services for the protection, conservation and presentation of the cultural and natural heritage with an appropriate staff and possessing the means to discharge their functions;
to develop scientific and technical studies and research and to work out such operating methods as will make the State capable of counteracting the dangers that threaten its cultural or natural heritage;
to take the appropriate legal, scientific, technical, administrative and financial measures necessary for the identification, protection, conservation, presentation and rehabilitation of this heritage; and
to foster the establishment or development of national or regional centres for training in the protection, conservation and presentation of the cultural and natural heritage and to encourage scientific research in this field."
Source(s): The World Heritage Convention
According to the Resource Manual 'Preparing World Heritage Nominations', "Attributes are aspects of a property which are associated with or express the Outstanding Universal Value. Attributes can be tangible or intangible. The Operational Guidelines indicate a range of types of attribute which might convey Outstanding Universal Value, including:
- form and design;
- materials and substance;
- use and function;
- traditions, techniques and management systems;
- location and setting;
- language, and other forms of intangible heritage; and
- spirit and feeling (Paragraph 82).
This list is for guidance. It is essential that the attributes identified for a property should flow from the Statement of Outstanding Universal Value and the justification for the criteria. Attributes must be identified as they are vital to understanding authenticity and integrity, and are the focus of protection, conservation and management.
For natural properties, it is more common to speak of ’features’, although the word attributes is sometimes used. Examples of attributes for natural properties could include:
- visual or aesthetic significance;
- scale of the extent of physical features or natural habitats;
- intactness of physical or ecological processes;
- naturalness, and intactness of natural systems;
- viability;
- rarity”.
Source(s): The World Heritage Resource Manual Preparing World Heritage Nominations (2nd edition, UNESCO 2011)
See 'attributes'.
The condition of the attributes of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) is a good guide to the overall state of conservation of a World Heritage property.
The categories of the condition of the attributes can be defined as follows:
- Lost: Loss or alteration to most aspects of this attribute has occurred and has caused a major loss of significance of this attribute.
- Seriously compromised: Loss or alteration of many aspects of this attribute has occurred, which is leading to a significant reduction in the significance of this attribute.
- Compromised: Some loss or alteration of the aspects of this attribute has already occurred, but their overall condition is not causing persistent or substantial effects to this attribute.
- Preserved: This attribute is essentially intact, and its overall condition is stable or improving. Available evidence indicates only minor, if any, disturbances, to this attribute.
Source(s): Presentation by Jon Day - ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies at the 39th session of the World Heritage Committee (Bonn, 2015)