Intersections in International Cultural Heritage Law

Abstract

Abstract The recent threats to cultural heritage, including in Iraq, Mali, Nepal, Syria, and Yemen, has led to increased focus on the sources of international cultural heritage law. This volume reflects that this is not a discrete and contained body of law, but rather a diverse one whose components are drawn from—and often developed and contained within—public international law. These ‘intersections’ have formed in two ways: when public international law has been used to provide greater protection for cultural heritage; and when concern for cultural heritage protection or codification of rules within cultural heritage-centric instruments have helped fuel developments within other areas of public international law. In this volume, scholars and practitioners explore some of the primary points of intersection where international cultural heritage law and public international law converge. The contributions are organized according to five major ‘intersections’: (1) the Law of Armed Conflict and the Protection of Cultural Heritage; (2) Cultural Heritage-Based Offenses in International Criminal Law and in Laws for Combatting Transnational Organized Crime; (3) the United Nations System and the Protection of Cultural Heritage; (4) Special Legal Regimes for the World Cultural Heritage and Underwater Cultural Heritage; and (5) Intersections of International, National, and Community Interests in Cultural Heritage. The result is a diverse and cohesive collection that explores these intersections and examines how the regimes operate together and how the relationship between them largely facilitates, but also sometimes hinders, the development of international law governing the protection of cultural heritage.