Heritage protection in International Law and Nacional Law: insights into the case of Vietnam

Abstract

The main subject of this Article is to analyse heritage protection under international law and Vietnamese law. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is the main agency tasked with safeguarding culture of humanity and unifying the nations to cooperate with each other to achieve the reach of heritage protection. The core widely-recognised UNESCO international instruments of the (UNESCO) provide a framework of international cultural heritage law. In light of the existing international law on heritage protection, the Article provides insights into Vietnamese legislation on the same subject matter. The Article also points out existing flaws in the Vietnam’s legal system of cultural heritage. Even though the Government of Vietnam has adopted a holistic approach in pursuit of the protection and promotion of cultural heritage and traditional values, lack of care and insufficient supports to communities and artists have caused challenges and difficulties to the Vietnamese Government and the needs for reform in the law-making and enforcement processes to redress the balance between heritage protection and economic development demands.