Our Privilege and Co-responsibility in the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History established an ethical program for the protection and research of the country’s underwater cultural heritage (UCH). Its Vice-Directorate of Underwater Archaeology trains archaeology and conservation students, participates in national and international initiatives regarding UCH, and develops multidisciplinary projects in maritime and continental waters. During negotiation of the UNESCO Convention, the Latin American and Caribbean Group united in a strong voice and contributed to its adoption in 2001; in 2006, Mexico ratified the Convention. This article highlights Mexico’s adoption of the 2001 UNESCO Convention as a case study, to stimulate all countries to ratify the convention and to cooperate in protecting the world’s UCH.     

Cooperation is the Key: We Can Protect the Underwater Cultural Heritage

The 2001 UNESCO Convention represents the will of the international community to establish a legal instrument specific to the world’s threatened underwater cultural heritage. This article introduces its history and purpose, and the geographical distribution of ratifications. It highlights UNESCO’s facilitating role and advocacy for the Convention, and the initiatives of the ICOMOS International Committee on Underwater Cultural Heritage, the Society for Historical Archaeology, and the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology in support of its development, ratification, implementation, and the adoption of its Annex as a “best practices” document, even where ratification is unlikely. It provides a context for articles that follow.     

US protection of underwater cultural heritage beyond the territorial sea: problems and prospects

Current US treatment of underwater cultural heritage beyond the territorial sea is analysed in light of Law of the Sea principles and the UNESCO Draft Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage.     

Portugal’s Declaration During the Negotiation of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage: International Protection and Cooperation versus Possession

Portugal was the second country in Western Europe to ratify the 2001 UNESCO Convention, a pivotal step that occurred on September 21, 2006. In 2000 the Portuguese delegation presented a statement in the UNESCO meeting for the draft Convention, the substance of which emphasises the protection and cooperation principles concerning the underwater cultural heritage rather than the issue of its possession. In 2008, the discovery of a sixteenth century Portuguese shipwreck near Oranjemund, Namibia, confirmed that the referred statement opened a premonitory strategic window for the conciliation of interests of States around such examples of common heritage.     

Ireland and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

Ratification by Ireland of the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage will not be able to take place until after enactment of additional domestic legislation. The reasons for this are examined in the context of Ireland’s legal system. Since 1987 Ireland has had extensive legal protection for underwater cultural heritage, but the jurisdictional aspects of the Convention are key to understanding why additional legislation is necessary. Issues relating to salvage law are also considered. The 2001 Convention is placed in the context of development of Irish policy on underwater cultural heritage.     

Mexico: A Leader in Ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History established an ethical program for the protection and research of the country’s underwater cultural heritage (UCH). Its Vice-Directorate of Underwater Archaeology trains archaeology and conservation students, participates in national and international initiatives regarding UCH, and develops multidisciplinary projects in maritime and continental waters. During negotiation of the UNESCO Convention, the Latin American and Caribbean Group united in a strong voice and contributed to its adoption in 2001; in 2006, Mexico ratified the Convention. This article highlights Mexico’s adoption of the 2001 UNESCO Convention as a case study, to stimulate all countries to ratify the convention and to cooperate in protecting the world’s UCH.     

Guaranteeing the Protection of Submerged Archaeological Sites Regardless of their Location: The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001)

The UNESCO 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage represents a significant move forward in the global protection and management of underwater cultural heritage. This paper reviews the Convention’s most basic tenets, such as in situ preservation, refusing commercial recovery, encouraging the cooperation of States also beyond territorial waters, and the creation of international standards for underwater archaeology. It also discusses the Scientific and Technical Advisory Body and highlights the Convention’s current status as an important tool to preserve and protect an international maritime heritage.     

Universal heritage meets local livelihoods: ‘awkward engagements’ at the world cultural heritage listing in Bali

In 2012 the UNESCO World Heritage Committee added to its World Heritage List the ‘Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the subak system as a manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy’. Barely a year later, UNESCO had become sufficiently concerned about reports of various problems that it advised the Government of Indonesia of these concerns. Through ethnographic study of the initial implementation of the listing, this article reveals problems of uncontrolled development, and disputes over the allocation of benefits to local communities, and challenges to effective governance. It focuses on two key locations of the site, offering an analysis of problems, their causes and effects. Beginning with the premise that the gulf of understanding between the global World Heritage system and local communities often creates a range of unintended consequences, this article reveals the many ‘awkward engagements’ that have emerged ‘on the ground’ in Bali as local agencies of government are left to their own devices to manage the World Heritage site.     

Local Resources,Global Heritage: An Introduction to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

On January 2, 2009, the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage entered into force, setting an international precedent for the protection and preservation of underwater archaeological resources and providing guidelines for site management and responsible investigation. Historically, submerged cultural resources, particularly shipwrecks, have been exploited primarily for their potential monetary value. Over the last 50 years archaeologists have challenged this perception, demonstrating the cultural and scientific value of submerged cultural resources.     

2008 Cultural Heritage Legal Summary

Abstract

In the past year acceptance of the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict received significant impetus with the vote of the U. S. Senate to ratify the main Convention and the drafting of legislation by the United Kingdom and New Zealand that would implement the Convention and both Protocols. Efforts by the United States to continue implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property continued with import restrictions imposed under the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (1983). At the end of the year, the dispute between Peru and Yale took an ominous turn, while new amendments enacted by the U. S. Congress in January 2008 to facilitate the recovery of property belonging to state sponsors of terrorism in the United States by victims of terrorism continue to cause problems for several leading American cultural institutions.     

Current status of the draft UNESCO/DAOLOS Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage

Abstract

There is at present no international legal instrument of comprehensive scope and general application that adequately regulates the management of the underwater cultural heritage. That is why a Convention for the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage is being prepared jointly by UNESCO and the UN Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DAOLOS).This note focuses on the major issues dealt with by the future. Convention and the current status of that instrument.     

The meaning of 1970 for the acquisition of archaeological objects

Abstract

Many museum and professional associations, particularly in the United States, have adopted a 1970 standard for the acquisition of archaeological materials–that is, in recognition of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, archaeological objects should be documented has outside of their country of origin before 1970 or have been exported legally after 1970. This article explores the extent to which this standard has been adopted, its influence on restitutions and claims for restitution of archaeological objects, and the policies that this standard attempts to promote.     

实践困境、国际经验与新文化保守主义的行动哲学——关于乡村振兴与非物质文化遗产保护的思考

2003年《保护非物质文化遗产公约》(以下简称《公约》)的出台与推行,令非物质文化遗产及其保护工作在世界范围内获得了广泛关注。这种关注不仅表现在《公约》缔约国数量的增加与各国相关实践的深入,也展现在《公约》及其相关国际文书中所强调的多边对话、相互尊重、以社区为中心等一系列由理念构成的工作原则在各缔约国保护实践中的逐步内化。只是在内化过程中,上述国际理念与缔约国复杂的文化事实磋磨出各种"水土不服"的现象。检省这些现象所展露的困境与经验,探讨其背后的新文化保守主义的行动哲学,有助于为非物质文化遗产保护的中国模式寻求更多的可能性,让上述理念不至变为囿束,转而成为推动中国乡村振兴与非物质文化遗产可持续发展的动力。     

Intangible heritage embodied and Intangible heritage

Over the past decade, intangible cultural heritage (hereafter, ICH), the significance which it possesses and the continuation of its myriad manifestations have reached unprecedented levels of recognition and attention on international and national policy agendas. Traditional Medicine (hereafter, TM) has long been included under the vast umbrella of ICH, yet there have been few attempts to explore that relationship. This paper examines the practical implications of applying the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage to TM, alongside the relationship of traditional medicine to the fields of human rights, public health and development. It considers, and reaches the conclusion that the cultural significance of traditional medicine combined with the fundamental principles of the Convention render the Convention significant in safeguarding traditional medicine for the future.     

Lights and shadows over the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape: ‘managing change’ in Ballarat and Cuenca through a radical approach focused on values and authenticity

The 2011 Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) is the most recent incorporation to the global process of heritage production that was triggered by the 1972 World Heritage Convention. Five years since the publication of the Recommendation, it is clear that, despite UNESCO’s efforts, opportunities for the implementation of the HUL on a global level have been scarce. An increasing awareness regarding public participation has provided an additional opportunity for the HUL, due to an enhanced understanding of an ideal urban heritage management that, avant la lettre, disregards traditional up-down decision-making processes. Our paper provides a critical evaluation of the positive and negative aspects which have arisen from the implementation of HUL Recommendation with regards to charters and theory. We have also taken into consideration the risks that are concomitant to its ambitious holistic approach, as well as the ambiguities with regards to the definition of landscape on which the HUL is based. This paper also identifies the opportunities that a renewed focus on heritage values and authenticity management, as reflected in the cases of Cuenca (Ecuador) and Ballarat (Australia), may offer for the successful implementation of the HUL approach.     

Rape as a Weapon of War(riors): The Militarisation of Sexual Violence in the United States, 1990–2000

This article uses a transnational feminist lens to examine how accusations of sexual violence were mobilised by the United States (US) government to justify military intervention at the same time that the US military failed to address sexual violence perpetrated by and against its own service members. Drawing upon an archive of civilian representations ranging from the New York Times to G.I. Jane, the author explores US interventions in the Persian Gulf, Haiti and the former Yugoslavia alongside sexual assaults committed by servicemen at the Tailhook Convention, on Okinawa and at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. This article draws connections between feminism and neo‐imperialism, between Cold War and War on Terror ideologies, and between rape as a weapon of war and rape during times of ‘peace’ in order to better understand the relationships between sexual politics and geopolitics at the end of the twentieth century.     

The International Fund for Cultural Diversity: a new tool for cooperation in the audiovisual field

This paper analyses the implementation of the International Fund for Cultural Diversity (IFCD), emerged from the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (UNESCO 2005). The uniqueness of this multilateral fund is that most of its resources are aimed at supporting actions of non-governmental organizations functioning within the fields of cultural policy and cultural industries in developing and underdeveloped countries. Through a thorough study of different decisions and documents, this text analyses the IFCD’s funding, the results of the first calls for initiatives and the support obtained by projects focused on the audiovisual industry. Conceived as an instrument to implement initiatives whose goal is to strengthen the cultural sphere of the poorest countries, the hitherto modest IFCD faces now questions about its future growth and effectiveness in terms of changing the existing imbalance at work within the flows of audiovisual content both regionally and internationally.     

Archaeology,assistance, and aggression along the Euphrates: reflections from Raqqa

ABSTRACT

This paper traces the cultural missions and salvage archaeology programs along the Euphrates River around Raqqa from the 1950s onwards. We suggest that the varied investments from international expeditions, conservation programs, and technical assistance in Syria have an important, untold history that is relevant to recent developments and conflicts in northern Syria. We explore the intersecting practices of archaeology and assistance, illuminated by archives drawn from international agencies such as UNESCO, as well as companies, consultants, bureaucrats, and archaeologists. Our focus is upon foreign intervention around imperiled heritage, considering not only internal politics but also UNESCO’s 1960s shift from fully funded campaigns to global appeals reliant on foreign governments, corporations, and universities. The outsourcing of salvage allowed specific patrons – national and international – to privilege particular pasts; and it is these histories and legacies that further require us to reassess the place of Raqqa in the current civil war.