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Mr. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf

Judge Abdulqawi A. Yusuf
International Court of Justice

Biography Biography in PDF

Cultural Heritage
The Notion of Cultural Heritage in International Law
This lecture explores the background to the introduction of the notion of “cultural heritage” in international law and analyzes the evolution of its scope and normative content as more legal instruments were adopted in the past thirty years on different aspects of cultural heritage. It also addresses the relationship and complementarities among different categories of cultural heritage (e.g. tangible, intangible and underwater cultural heritage) dealt with in various legal instruments most of which were elaborated and adopted in UNESCO. The legal effects of the interpretation and application of these instruments and the extent to which they have contributed to the emergence of an integrated notion of cultural heritage in international law are also discussed.

Original Lecture
English  (50 minutes)

Lecture with simultaneous interpretation
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Recording facilities courtesy of UNESCO
Cultural Heritage
The Notion of Cultural Heritage in International Law
Outline of Lecture PDF document (16.4 KB)
A. Legal Instruments
Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, The Hague, 14 May 1954, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 249, p. 240.

Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, The Hague, 14 May 1954, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 249, p. 358.

Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property; Paris, 14 November 1970, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 823, p. 232.

Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, Paris, 16 November 1972, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1037, p. 152.

Second Protocol to The Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, The Hague, 26 March 1999, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2253, p. 172.

Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage, Paris, 2 November 2001, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2562, p. 3.

Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Paris, 17 October 2003, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2368, p. 3.

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, Paris, 20 October 2005, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2440, p. 311.

B.Documents
UNESCO General Conference recommendation of 16 November 1972 (Recommendation concerning the Protection, at National Level, of the Cultural and Natural Heritage).

UNESCO General Conference recommendation of 15 November 1989 (Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and Folklore).

World Heritage Committee working document WHC-94/CONF.003/INF.08 of 21 November 1994 (Report on the Conference on authenticity in relation to the World Heritage Convention on Nara Document on Authenticity).

UNESCO General Conference resolution 31 C/26 of 2 November 2001 (UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity).

World Heritage Committee decision WHC-02/CONF.202/25 of 1 August 2002 (Progress Report on the Preparation of Strategic Objectives of the World Heritage Committee and Revised Structure of the Budget of the World Heritage Fund).

World Heritage Committee decision WHC-04/28.COM/26 of 29 October 2004 (Global Strategy for a Representative, Balanced and Credible World Heritage List), p. 11.

World Heritage Committee working document WHC-04/7 EXT.COM/INF.9 of 25 November 2004 (The Yamato Declaration on Integrated Approaches for Safeguarding Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage).

Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention.

World Heritage List

C. Doctrine
J. Blake, “On Defining the Cultural Heritage”, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 49, 2000, pp. 61-85.

J. Blake, “On Developing a New International Convention for Safeguarding International Cultural Heritage”; Art, Antiquity and Law; vol. 8, 2003, pp. 381-411.

J. Blake, Commentary on the 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, Institute of Art and Law, Leicester, 2006.

C. Brenner, “Cultural Property Law: Reflecting on the Bamiyan Buddha’s Destruction”, Suffolk Transnational Law Review, vol. 29, 2006, pp. 237-269.

M. F. Brown, “Heritage Trouble: Recent Work on the Protection of Intangible Cultural Property”, International Journal of Cultural Property, vol. 12, 2005, pp. 40-61.

G. Camarda and T. Scovazzi, The Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage: Legal Aspects, Giuffrè, Milano, 2002.

K. Chamberlain, “The Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict”; Art, Antiquity and Law; vol. 8, 2003, pp. 209-240.

K. Chamberlain, War and cultural heritage: an analysis of the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two Protocols, Institute of Art and Law, Leicester, 2004.

G. Carducci, “New developments in the Law of the Sea : the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage”, American Journal of International Law, vol. 96, 2002, pp. 419-434.

C. Forrest, “Cultural Heritage as the Common Heritage of Humankind: A Critical Re-evaluation”, Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, vol. 40, 2007, pp. 124-151.

F. Francioni, The Role of International Law in the Protection of Cultural Heritage in The Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage: Legal Aspects, Giuffrè, Milano, 2002, (particularly pp. 3-6).

F. Francioni, “Beyond State Sovereignty: The Protection of Cultural Heritage as a Shared Interest of Humanity”, Michigan Journal of International Law, vol. 25, 2004, pp. 1209-1228.

F. Francioni, “A Dynamic Evolution of Concept and Scope: From Cultural Property to Cultural Heritage”, in: A. Yusuf (ed.), Standard Setting in UNESCO: Normative Action in Education, Science and Culture; Essays in Commemoration of the Sixtieth Anniversary of UNESCO, UNESCO, Paris, 2007, pp. 221-236.

F. Francioni, “Au-dela des traites: l’emergence d’un nouveau droit coutumier pour la protection du patrimoine culturel”, Revue générale de Droit International Public, vol. 111, 2007, pp. 19-41.

F. Francioni/F. Lenzerini (eds.), The 1972 World Heritage Convention: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008.

M. Frigo, “Cultural Property v. Cultural Heritage: A ‘Battle of Concepts’ in International Law”, International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 86, 2004, pp. 367-378.

P. Gerstenblith, Art, Cultural Heritage and the Law: Cases and Materials, Carolina Academic Press, Durham, 2004.

D. Keane, “The Failure to Protect Cultural Property in Wartime”, DePaul Journal of Art and Entertainment Law, vol. 14, 2004, pp. 1-38.

P. Kuruk, “Cultural Heritage, Traditional Knowledge and Indigenous Rights: An Analysis of the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage”, Macquarie Journal of International and Comparative Environmental Law, vol. 1, 2004, pp. 111-134.

L. Lankarani, “L’avant-projet de l’UNESCO pour la sauvegarde du patrimoine culturel immateriel, Annuaire français de droit international, vol. 48, 2002, pp. 624-656.

J.H. Merryman, “The Nation and the Object”, International Journal of Cultural Property, vol. 3, 1994, pp. 61-76.

P. Meyer-Bisch, Les droits culturels: projet de déclaration, UNESCO, Paris, 1998.

P. Meyer-Bisch, “Le droit à la propriété intellectuelle: un droit individuel et commun”, in: E. Bruylant, Avancées et confins actuels des droits de l’homme aux niveaux international, européen et national, Mélanges offerts à Silvio Marcus Helmons, Bruylant, Brussels, 2003, pp. 243-257.

J. Nafziger and T. Scovazzi (eds.), The Cultural Heritage of Mankind, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden/Boston, 2008.

J. Nafziger, “Cultural Heritage Law: The International Regime”, in: J. Nafziger/ T. Scovazzi (eds.), The Cultural Heritage of Mankind, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden, 2008, pp. 145-247.

P. O’Keefe and L.V. Prott, Law and the Cultural Heritage, vol. 3, Butterworths, London, 1989.

P. O’Keefe, Commentary on the 1970 UNESCO Convention on Illicit Trafficking, Institute of Art and Law, Leicester, 2007.

R. O’Keefe, “World Cultural Heritage: Obligations to the International Community as a Whole?”, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, vol. 53, 2004, pp. 189-209.

M. Popovytch, “Problems of Cultural Heritage as a Consequence of the Non-Legal Notion of Nation”, in: G. Czubek/P. Kosiewski (eds.), Displaced Cultural Assets: The Case of Western Europe and the Problems of Central and Eastern countries in the 20th century, Trio, Warsaw, 2004, pp. 109-115.

L. Pressouyre, The World Heritage Convention, Twenty Years Later, UNESCO, Paris, 1996.

L.V. Prott, “Cultural Heritage Law: The Perspective of the Source Nations; Art, Antiquity and Law; vol. 5, 2000, pp. 333-342.

L.V. Prott, “Hunting as Intangible Heritage: Some Notes on its Manifestations”, International Journal of Cultural Property, vol. 14, 2007, pp. 385-398.

C. Roussev, “A comparison of Antiquities-related Trade Laws within the General Framework of Cultural Heritage Law: The EU and National Models”, in: J. Nafziger/T. Scovazzi (eds.), The Cultural Heritage of Mankind, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden/Boston, 2008, pp. 729-768.

H. Ruiz Fabri, “Culture Seized by Globalization: Can International Law be of any Help? Reflections on the Possible Future Legal Implications of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression”, in: A. Reinisch/U. Kriebaum (eds.), Law of International Relations: Liber Amicorum Hanspeter Neuhold, 2007 pp. 325-344.

B. Srinivas, “The Unesco Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage”, in: J. Nafziger/T. Scovazzi (eds.), The Cultural Heritage of Mankind, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden/Boston, 2008, p. 529.

S. Sucharitkul, “Evolution Continue d’une Notion Nouvelle: Le Patrimoine Commun de L’humanité”, in: Y. Dinstein (ed.), International Law at a Time of Perplexity: Essays in Honor of Shabtai Rosenne, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht, 1989, pp. 887-908.

N. van Woudenberg, “Displaced Cultural Property: The Tug-of-War between Restitution and Compensation”, The Hague Yearbook of International Law, vol. 17, 2004, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden/Boston, pp. 77-94.

J. Verhoeven, “Patrimoine culturel et droit international”, Cursos Euromediteraneos Bancaja de derecho internacional, vol. V, 2001, pp. 667-717.

R. Wolfrum, “Reflections on the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict”, in: H.-P. Mansel (ed.), Festschrift für Erik Jayme, Sellier European Law Publishers, Munich, 2004, pp. 1789-1800.

A. Yusuf, Legal Aspects of Trade Preferences for Developing States: A Study in the Influence of Development Needs on the Evolution of International Law, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden/Boston, 1982.

A. Yusuf et al. (eds.), International Technology Transfer: The Origins and Aftermath of the United Nations Negotiations on Draft Code of Conduct, Kluwer Law International, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2000.

A. Yusuf, Standard Setting in UNESCO: Normative Action in Education, Science and Culture; Essays in Commemoration of the Sixtieth Anniversary of UNESCO, UNESCO, Paris, 2007.

A. Yusuf (ed.), Standard-setting in UNESCO: Volume 1, Normative Action in Education, Science and Culture, UNESCO Publishing and Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Leiden, 2007.

A. Yusuf, “Cultural Rights as Collective Rights in International Law”, in: Koufa/Kalliopi (ed.), Multiculturalism and International Law: 2004 International Law Session, Sakkoulas Publications, Athens, 2007, pp. 49-71.

A. Yusuf and C. Correa (eds.), Intellectual Property and International Trade: The TRIPS Agreement, Kluwer Law International, Alphen aan den Rijn, 2nd edition 2008.

A. Yusuf, “Article 1: Definition of Cultural Heritage”, in: F. Francioni/F. Lenzerini, (eds.), The 1972 World Heritage Convention: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008, pp. 23-50.

J. M. Zelig, “Recovering Iraq’s Cultural Property: What Can Be Done To Prevent Illicit Trafficking”, Brooklyn Journal of International Law, vol. 31, 2005, pp. 289-323.