Papers by Ana Filipa Vrdoljak
This article considers Indigenous peoples’ decades-long campaign for effective participation in d... more This article considers Indigenous peoples’ decades-long campaign for effective participation in decision-making concerning the protection of their cultural heritage (and related human rights) at the international level and its transformational impact on international law and international institutions. First, there is an overview of early interventions at the international level to engage and dissect the discourses of human rights and decolonization thereby revealing the lacunae in existing international law and the ensuing discrimination in its application to Indigenous peoples. Then, there is an examination of how these gaps were addressed through a quarter century of work before the Working Group on Indigenous Populations and other UN and regional fora focused on the applying and translating applicable international law norms particularly human rights to Indigenous peoples and individuals and their cultures. This work centered on the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peo...
The Oxford Handbook of International Cultural Heritage Law, 2020
This chapter examines the interrelationship between cultural heritage and efforts to secure and s... more This chapter examines the interrelationship between cultural heritage and efforts to secure and sustain peace. It gives an overview of the new international order the post–World War I and II peace settlements sought to create and the role of specialist culture bodies within intergovernmental frameworks in promoting the role of culture and cultural heritage in peace efforts. The role of culture rights and cultural heritage is considered within the transitional justice framework enunciated by the UN covering the rights to justice and accountability, truth, remedy and reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence. Illustrations are drawn from the burgeoning jurisprudence of regional human rights courts and international criminal courts and State practice arising from the proliferation of peace processes since 1989. Finally, it considers the preventative role of cultural heritage and cultural rights in sustaining peace beyond the post-conflict context and UN/UNESCO efforts to promote a c...
International Journal of Cultural Property, 2018
International Journal of Cultural Property, 2020
Pandemics creep up on us slowly, and without our suspecting, while we are distracted. Likewise, h... more Pandemics creep up on us slowly, and without our suspecting, while we are distracted. Likewise, human experience shows that they recede gradually and without our noticing. For those in the eye of its storm—those that experience their devastating impact firsthand without the hope of an end in sight—they touch and shape their daily lives and their societies, in big and small ways. History shows, that across millennia, pandemics throw a harsh light on existing cleavages in societies and shortcomings in their organization; fuel deliberation, agitation, and the search for new ideas; and accelerate or bring about change. There is no reason to believe the effect of the pandemic that is presently affecting every continent will not follow a similar path.
This chapter focuses on the legal issues raised by the impact of the privatisation of war on cult... more This chapter focuses on the legal issues raised by the impact of the privatisation of war on cultural rights and cultural heritage during military engagements. It is divided into four parts. First, there is an examination of the current debate amongst heritage practitioners, particularly archaeologists and anthropologists, about their professional engagement with PMSCs in recent conflicts and belligerent occupation. Second, there is an overview of existing international humanitarian law and human rights provisions covering cultural rights and cultural heritage during armed conflict and occupation. Third, the response of professional bodies and associations of heritage practitioners through their codes of ethics and public pronouncements to these emerging challenges is detailed. Finally, there is a brief explanation of international initiatives to regulate the activities of PMSCs. It is clear that the rapidly changing face of war has not only revealed the limitations of existing inte...
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2021
This whitepaper provides a legal analysis to align the 1972 World Heritage Convention and the UNE... more This whitepaper provides a legal analysis to align the 1972 World Heritage Convention and the UNESCO Constitution and its commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms. It sets out recommendations for UNESCO, the World Heritage governing bodies, and States Parties to ensure properties on the World Heritage List and Tentative Lists are not sites of serious, systematic violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law.
The legal protection of movable cultural heritage at the international level has been defined by ... more The legal protection of movable cultural heritage at the international level has been defined by a perennial tug-of-war between forces promoting international exchange and those seeking regulation of the transfer of the cultural objects. Shifts over the last century in how the balance between these twin aims is achieved reflect changes in the composition of Member States of intergovernmental organizations and their corresponding changing priorities. In the early twentieth century, the balance fostered under the League of Nations favored a cosmopolitan view promoting the circulation and interchange of cultural material to further knowledge and mutual understanding between peoples. The balance sought in the late twentieth century emphasized the importance of states being able to host representative national collections on their own territory. More recently, this position appears to be tempered by moves to make cultural objects exhibited in international exhibitions immune from seizure...
Intellectual Property, Cultural Property and Intangible Cultural Heritage
The Protection of General Interests in Contemporary International Law
This chapter explores the evolution of cultural property as the ‘common concern’ of the internati... more This chapter explores the evolution of cultural property as the ‘common concern’ of the international community by focusing on its protection during armed conflict and belligerent occupation. By focusing on the role of international organizations over the last century, it examines the development of the rationales for this protection and related obligations concerning safeguarding and prosecution of violations. It charts the drive to realize a specialist instrument on the protection of cultural property during armed conflict and the enforcement of these obligations through the various phases of the evolving membership and priorities of the Intellectual Cooperation Organisation (ICO) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is shown that despite the changing fortunes of these specialist international culture organizations themselves, the core commitment by the international community to the articulation of the protection of cultural property d...
International Legal Materials
The Oxford Handbook of International Cultural Heritage Law, 2020
This chapter provides an overview of multilateral interventions in the field of cultural heritage... more This chapter provides an overview of multilateral interventions in the field of cultural heritage and its legal protection over the last century by focusing on the work of specialist cultural international organizations that have spearheaded the adoption and implementation of the leading treaties. The first part examines the early work of the League of Nations' Intellectual Cooperation Organisation from the 1920s to the Second World War. The second part considers the work of its successor, UNESCO from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. The concluding observations consider the challenges which both organizations faced in realizing their mission in the cultural field. A deeper understanding of the ideals, challenges, and tensions which have marked the internal workings of UNESCO, its forerunner, and their Members States is fundamental to appreciating the instruments and initiatives in the cultural field that they adopted and seek to implement.
Abstract The core framework created by the 1972 World Heritage Convention ('WHC') which h... more Abstract The core framework created by the 1972 World Heritage Convention ('WHC') which has rendered it innovative and successful is made up of three elements: international assistance, the World Heritage Fund ('Fund') and the World Heritage Committee (' ...
Thesaurus Acroasium, 2007
Uploads
Papers by Ana Filipa Vrdoljak