The Future of the World Heritage Convention: Problems and Prospects

Francioni, Francesco; Lenzerini, Federico

doi:10.1093/law/9780199291694.003.0022

Chapter

The Future of the World Heritage Convention: Problems and Prospects

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https://doi.org/10.1093/law/9780199291694.003.0022

Pages

401–410

Published:

March 2008

Extract

Introduction

In the 35 years since its adoption, the 1972 World Heritage Convention has proven to be a successful and effective instrument for the protection of cultural property and of natural environment of exceptional interest for humanity. The steady increase in the number of contracting Parties (185 at 30 August 2007)¹ and of properties inscribed on the World Heritage List (851 after the 31st Session of the World Heritage Committee, held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 23 June to 2 July 2007)² bears witness to this success. This is certainly due in part to the great visibility of the system created by the Convention, which is well known by people all over the world, if not always in its technical legal aspects. This is a rare feature for an international convention, since only a very few multilateral treaties, as eg, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,³ the CITES Convention⁴ and, to a more limited extent, the Antarctic Treaty,⁵ possess the capacity of projecting their effects beyond the sphere of governmental obligations to become part of the civil society and of the everyday life of people. In nearly all countries of the world, people, even when they ignore the contents and details of the Convention as an international legal instrument, consider every property inscribed on the World Heritage List (the List), and accompanied by the distinctive emblem of the Convention, as the ‘heritage of humanity’ tout court. This recognition goes beyond the ‘legal’ consideration of the Convention as a treaty, whose effects are limited only to States Parties, and it is not diminished by the fact that each property inscribed on the List remains subject to the sovereignty of the state in whose territory it is located.

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Contents

The Future of the World Heritage Convention: Problems and Prospects