Culture, heritage and human rights: An introduction

International Studies in Human Rights

Volumn 95, Issue , 2008, Pages 1-16

  Francioni, Francesco ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84966507726     PISSN: 09244751     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book Series    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (25)

1. One of the few comprehensive and interdisciplinary works on the subject, Les droits culturels (P. Meyer. Bisch ed., Friburg, 1993)
2. significantly carries the sub-title 'une categorie sous-developée des droits de l'homme. More recent contributions have addressed the interplay between economic regulation and cultural identity in the context of European law, see, in particular, R. Crauford Smith (ed.), Culture and European Union Law (Oxford, 2004)
3. the theoretical question whether a liberal theory of the State is compatible with the recognition of collective rights to groups or minorities, see W. Kymlicka, Multicultural Citizenship (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1995).
4. Among the remarkable contributions to the theory of cultural rights and worthy of mention: P. Meyer. Bisch (ed.), cit. supra note 1; H. Niec (ed.), Cultural Rights and Wrongs (UNESCO, 1998)
5. J. Simonides, 'Cultural Rights', in J. Simonides (ed.), Human Rights: Concept and Standards (UNESCO, 2000), p. 175 ff.
6. Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, 2003, available at: .
7. Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, 2005, ibid.
8. See, for instance, R. Stavenhagen, 'Cultural Rights and Universal Human Rights', in A. Eide et al. (eck), Economic Social and Cultural Rights (Dordrecht, 1995), p. 63 ff.
9. F. Shyllon, 'The Right to a Cultural Past: African Viewpoints', in L. V. Prott, Cultural Rights & Wrongs (Institute of Art and Law, UNESCO Publishing, Paris, 1998), p. 103 ff.
10. I refer here to the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (available at: )
11. to the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (available at: ).
12. See, in particular, Convention No. 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in Independent Countries, 1989, available at: .
13. See Convention on Biological Diversity, 1992, Article 8(j), available at:
14. Available at: .
15. European Court of Human Rights, Case of Beyeler v. Italy, Application No. 33202/96, Judgment of 5 January 2000, Grand Chamber. In this case the Court found that Italy had violated Article 1 of Protocol 1 by way of a forced purchase of a Van Gogh painting at a price that did not reflect the market value of the property. It is interesting that the Court reached this conclusion despite the clear letter of Italian law, which permits the foreclosure of ownership over artworks that are notified by the applicant.
16. 'Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world', first paragraph of the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UN CAOR, 6th Comm. 83rd mtg. U.N. Doc. A/C.6/SR.83 (1948).
17. This provision has been interpreted by the Human Rights Committee in such a way so as to ensure special entitlement of minorities and indigenous people to have access to natural resources: Lubicon Band v. Canada, Communication No. 167/1984 (26 March 1990).
18. The number of Contracting Parties to the World Heritage Convention has reached 183. See at: (last visited on 12 January 2007).
19. For illustration of this practice, see F. Francioni and F. Lenzerini, 'The Destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan and International Law', EJIL (2003), p. 619
20. R. O'Keefe, 'World Cultural Heritage: Obligations to the International Community as a Whole?', ICLQ (2004), p. 189, at pp. 195-202.
21. Available at: .
22. A comprehensive coverage of this topic can be found in A. Cassese, International Criminal Law (Oxford, 2003).
23. The text of the Convention is available at: .
24. See Second Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Confict, 1999, available at: .
25. Naletilic case, Trial Chamber, 31 March 2003, para. 604 ff., available at: .