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UNESCO, world heritage and human rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 March 2023

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak Open the ORCID record for Ana Filipa Vrdoljak [Opens in a new window]
Ana Filipa Vrdoljak*
Affiliation:
UNESCO Chair in International Law and Cultural Heritage and Professor, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
*
Email: ana.vrdoljak@uts.edu.au
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Abstract

This article examines the relationship between the World Heritage Convention and international human rights law. The first part of the article draws on key phrases in Article 1 of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Constitution, which defines its purpose to elaborate on the role of human rights to UNESCO’s mandate and how developments in international human rights law over the last 75 years have been translated into the organization’s policies and programs and the implementation of the World Heritage Convention. The second part details how human rights violations related to World Heritage properties expose significant shortcomings in UNESCO’s fulfillment of its mandate and states’ compliance with international human rights norms. The third part outlines the international responsibility of various actors in respect of serious violations of human rights related to World Heritage properties. The final part identifies possible areas of reform in the operation of the World Heritage Convention that may facilitate its alignment with international human rights law and UNESCO’s adherence to its mandate.

Type
Special Section: UNESCO’s World Heritage Convention at 50
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , November 2022 , pp. 459 - 486
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the International Cultural Property Society

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