Law Commons^™

International Exchange And Trade In Cultural Objects, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

The legal protection of movable cultural heritage at the international level has been defined by a perennial tug-of-war between forces promoting international exchange and those seeking regulation of the transfer of the cultural objects. Shifts over the last century in how the balance between these twin aims is achieved reflect changes in the composition of Member States of intergovernmental organizations and their corresponding changing priorities. In the early twentieth century, the balance fostered under the League of Nations favored a cosmopolitan view promoting the circulation and interchange of cultural material to further knowledge and mutual understanding between peoples. The balance …

Challenges For International Cultural Heritage Law, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

The period from the shelling of Dubrovnik, Sarajevo and Mostar in the 1990s to the bombardment of Homs and Aleppo in the 2010s, witnessed the significant expansion of interventionist activities by the international community and then their gradual contraction in this new century. The factors that fostered the cosmopolitan drive during this brief period had a positive impact on the protection of cultural heritage during armed conflict and peacetime. It also puts into stark relief the perpetual challenges facing the legal protection of cultural heritage at the international level, which forms the core of this chapter. In this first part, …

Controls On The Export Of Cultural Objects And Human Rights, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak, Kevin Chamberlain Kmg

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Specialist instruments for the protection of cultural heritage have made oblique and overt reference to respecting established human rights norms since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Explicit references to human rights and fundamental freedoms have become pronounced in instruments finalised in the last two decades.

This chapter considers the relevance of human rights for the control on export of cultural objects. It is divided in two parts. The first part details how human rights norms have been referenced in multilateral instruments for the protection of cultural heritage. The second part examines the relationship between controls on …

Restitution Of Cultural Properties Trafficked During Colonization: A Human Rights Perspective, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

On the occasion of the successfully negotiated return of the Uigwe (the Royal Protocols of the Joseon Dynasty), the Oe-kyujanggak Books and other cultural patrimony to Korea from France and to augment UNESCO and the Korean National Commission’s initiative to foster a network for the return of cultural property, this paper shall cover three broad themes. First, there is a brief description of how international law and the international community has conceptualised claims for restitution of cultural objects removed during colonization prior to the late twentieth century. Second, there is an examination of the redefinition of these restitution re quests …

History And Evolution Of International Cultural Heritage Law: Through The Question Of The Removal And Return Of Cultural Objects, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

The role of law in the removal and return of cultural objects has long been fraught and contested. This paper examines the history and development of the legal protection of cultural heritage at the international level with particular reference to the return of cultural objects.

With a view to facilitating the Intergovernmental Committee's future work, the paper is divided into four parts. First, there is an examination of the historical development of international cultural heritage law in respect of restitution over the last two centuries. Second, the establishment and work of the Intergovernmental Committee is considered in this historical legal …