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This commentary examines the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (the UNESCO World Heritage Convention), fifty years after its adoption. It explores the new challenges which have arisen in the management of world heritage sites and the Convention's impact on the evolution of international heritage law.
List of contents
- PART I. INTRODUCTION
- The 1972 World Heritage Convention: An Introduction
- Conceptual Developments of the World Heritage Convention
- PART II. COMMENTARY
- The Preamble
- Article 1 Definition of Cultural Heritage
- Article 1 Cultural Landscapes
- Article 2 Definition of Natural Heritage
- Article 3 Identification and Delineation of World Heritage Properties
- Articles 4-7 National and International Protection of the Cultural and Natural Heritage
- Articles 8-11 World Heritage Committee and World Heritage List
- Article 11 List of World Heritage in Danger and Deletion of a Property from the World Heritage List
- Article 12 Protection of Properties Not Inscribed on the World Heritage List
- Article 13 World Heritage Committee and International Assistance
- Article 14 The Secretariat and Support of the World Heritage Committee
- Articles 15-18 World Heritage Fund
- Articles 19-26 International Assistance
- Articles 27-28 Educational Programmes
- Article 29 Reports
- Article 34 Federal or Non-Unitary Constitutional Systems
- Articles 30-33 and 35-38 Final Clauses
- PART III. RELATION OF THE WORLD HERITAGE CONVENTION WITH OTHER RELEVANT INTERNATIONAL REGIMES
- The 1972 World Heritage Convention in the Framework of Other UNESCO Conventions and Other Instruments on Cultural Heritage
- The World Heritage Convention and Other Conventions Relating to the Protection of the Natural Heritage
- World Heritage and Human Rights
- The World Heritage Convention and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
- The World Heritage Convention and the Law of the Sea
- The World Heritage Convention and International Investment Law
- PART IV. CONCLUSIONS
- The Future of the World Heritage Convention: Problems and Prospects
About the author
Francesco Francioni is Professor Emeritus of International Law at the European University Institute. He has published extensively in the field of international law and held the Chair of International Law at the University of Siena from 1980 to 2003. He was a visiting professor at the University of Texas, Austin, from 1987 to 2008 and has taught as a visiting professor at the Universities of Cornell, Oxford , Munich, and Columbia, NY. He is a legal consultant for UNESCO and has participated in the negotiation of the main treaties and protocols concerning the protection of cultural heritage of the past 25 years. In 1987 and 1988 he was President of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.
Federico Lenzerini is Professor of international law and European Union law for the Faculty of Law of the University of Siena. He is a consultant of UNESCO for the Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and the Legal Counsel of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for international negotiations relative to the protection of cultural property. He is a member of the "Italian International Law Society " and the "Biotechnology Committee" of the International Law Association. His relevant areas of research are human rights protection, the right to asylum (under the double profile of general international law and of community law), rights of indigenous populations (according to comparative and international law), International Business and Trade Law, the international protection of cultural heritage, and cultural diversity.
Summary
Almost fifty years have passed since the adoption of the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (the UNESCO World Heritage Convention). With its 194 States Parties, it is the most widely ratified convention within the family of UNESCO treaties on the protection of cultural heritage. The success of this Convention and its almost universal acceptance by the international community of states is due to the great appeal that recognising certain properties as “world heritage” has for national governments.
Since the publication of the first Commentary, new problems have arisen in the management of world heritage sites. It has become increasingly difficult to properly monitor the conservation of the ever-growing mass of sites inscribed in the World Heritage List, and to resolve disputes over the formal designation of contested world heritage properties - a problem that has led to the withdrawal of the United States and Israel from UNESCO. New frontiers are now being explored for the expansion of the world heritage idea over marine areas beyond national jurisdiction, and the monopoly of the State in the identification, delineation, and presentation of world heritage properties is being increasingly challenged in the name of indigenous peoples' rights and by local communities claiming ownership over contested cultural sites. At the same time, the regime of world heritage protection has infiltrated other areas of international law, especially international economic law, investment arbitration, and the area of international criminal law. This second edition critically examines the World Heritage Convention against this dynamic evolution of international heritage law to help academics, lawyers, diplomats, and officials interpret and apply the norms of the Convention after half a century of uninterrupted implementing practice by State Parties and Treaty Bodies.
