The 1970 UNESCO and 1995 Unidroit Conventions on Stolen or Illegally Transferred Cultural Property: A Commentary

The illicit traffic in cultural objects is a grave concern to the general public and international community. The resulting cultural damage fuels debates on how best to regulate the trade in cultural objects and inform legal responses at all levels for the protection of movable cultural heritage. Treaties concerning the treatment of cultural objects during peacetime and war represent some of the earliest multilateral initiatives on cultural heritage in the modern era. They also remain some of the most deeply contested, representing shifting fault lines within the international community.

Authored by leading scholars and practitioners from around the world, this Commentary is the first to cover the two leading multilateral treaties on movable cultural heritage in one volume: the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property adopted by UNESCO in 1970 and the Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects adopted by UNIDROIT in 1995.

This Commentary is designed to be the authoritative text for academics, lawyers, policymakers, and diplomats on the protection and regulation of cultural objects. Encompassing both public and private international law rules on the trade in cultural objects, it provides a detailed historical and thematic overview. Drawing on the travaux preparatoires and intergovernmental and state practice over the last half century, the Commentary provides an article-by-article analysis of the interpretation and application of these treaties. The texts 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Conventions are examined in the working context of other culture conventions including the World Heritage Convention and the Intangible Heritage Convention, as well as related fields of international law, such as international humanitarian law, international criminal law, human rights law, and international economic law. The volume also offers a critical examination of current trends and future directions which are informing the field.

Ana Vrdoljak, Andrzej Jakubowski, Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Alessandro Chechi, University of Geneva

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak is the UNESCO Chair in International Law and Cultural Heritage and Professor of Law at the University of Technology Sydney. Professor Vrdoljak is a Correspondent (Pacific region) and Member of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project of International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). With Francesco Francioni, she is the editor of the Oxford Commentaries on International Cultural Heritage Law and the Cultural Heritage Law and Policy series. She is President of the International Cultural Property Society (U.S.) and Chair of the Management Committee, International Journal of Cultural Property (Cambridge University Press). Professor Vrdoljak is a consultant to multilateral organisations, governments, and civil society organisations on cultural heritage law, human rights law, and international law. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy (in Law) from the University of Sydney.

Andrzej Jakubowski holds PhD in International Law (EUI, 2011) and MA in Art History (University of Warsaw, 2005). Affiliated with the Institute of Law Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw, he served as Chair of the ILA Committee on Participation in Global Cultural Heritage Governance (2017-2022). A member of the Pool of Arbitrators at the Court of Arbitration for Art (CAfA), he is also enlisted among the mediators and conciliators of the UNESCO Intergovernmental ＂Return and Restitution＂ Committee (ICPRCP). He has published extensively on issues related to cultural heritage law and cultural rights in International and European law.

Alessandro Chechi (PhD European University Institute, LLM University College London) is Senior lecturer at the University of Geneva. He also teaches at the Université Catholique of Lille and at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. He serves as a member of the editorial boards of the Italian Yearbook of International Law and of the Santander Art and Culture Law Review, and is a member of the Société international pour la recherché sur le droit du patrimoine culturel et le droit de l’art (ISCHAL). He was consultant for the Council of Europe for the revision of the Convention on Offences Relating to Cultural Property, and is the author of the book ’The Settlement of International Cultural Heritage Disputes’ (Oxford University Press, 2014).