Special Rapporteur on cultural rights

Issues in focus

About special procedures

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Special Rapporteur on cultural rights

Issues in focus

About special procedures

The importance of cultural heritage from a cultural rights perspective has been an area of work of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur since its beginning. You will find below the thematic work conducted by the mandate over the years, as well as developments in other parts of the UN system and important links.

What is cultural heritage?

The concept of heritage reflects the dynamic character of something that has been developed, built or created, interpreted and re-interpreted in history, and transmitted from generation to generation.

Cultural heritage links the past, the present and the future as it encompasses things inherited from the past that are considered to be of such value or significance today, that individuals and communities want to transmit them to future generations. (A/HRC/17/38, para.5)

Reports

The right to access and enjoy cultural heritage (2011)

The her 2011 thematic report, submitted to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/17/38), the Special Rapporteur focuses on the right of access to, and enjoyment of, cultural heritage. She stresses that cultural heritage is important not only in itself, but also for individuals and communities, in terms of both their identity and development processes.

As set out in this report, the right of access to and enjoyment of cultural heritage is based on various human rights norms. It includes the right of individuals and communities to, inter alia, know, understand, enter, visit, make use of, maintain, and exchange cultural heritage, as well as to benefit from the cultural heritage and the creation of others. It also includes the right to participate in the identification, interpretation and development of historical heritage, and in designing and implementing practices to safeguard it.

However, varying degrees of access and enjoyment may be recognized, taking into consideration the diverse interests of individuals and communities depending on their relationship to specific cultural heritages. The report gives States, professionals working in the field of cultural heritage and cultural institutions, researchers and tourism and entertainment industries a number of recommendations on taking a human rights approach to cultural heritage.

To inform her report, and to start a constructive dialogue with States, National Human Rights Institutions, Non-Governmental Organizations and human rights and cultural institutes and other stakeholders on cultural heritage, the Special Rapporteur invited relevant stakeholders to submit their views via a questionnaire.

View report page for full details.

Intentional destruction of cultural heritage: a violation of human rights (2016)

Parchment in Aramaic language of readings for Sundays and holidays. XIth-XIIth Century. Collection of manuscripts of the Chaldean Patriarchate of Babel, Iraq, CNMO. CPB_00435 © Photo Fr. Najeeb Michaeel op

Building on the report mentioned above (A/HRC/17/38), the second Special Rapporteur presented in 2016 her initial observations on the intentional destruction of cultural heritage to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/31/59).

She indicated her intention to focus on this for her upcoming report to the General Assembly, a decision welcomed by an unprecedented coalition of 145 States. This coalition made a statement to the Council in March 2016 condemning intentional destruction of cultural heritage. It called for best practices for its prevention, and for "raising awareness on the mutually reinforcing relation between the protection of cultural heritage and human rights and on the risks faced by defenders of cultural heritage."

In her 2016 report to the General Assembly (A/71/317), the Special Rapporteur lays out a human rights approach, which she developed, to the intentional destruction of cultural heritage, in conflict and non-conflict situations, by States and non-State actors. She examines the impact of such destruction on a range of human rights, including the right to take part in cultural life. She calls for effective national and international strategies for preventing, and holding accountable those alleged to have taken part in, such destruction. She also calls for defenders of cultural heritage to be supported and protected.

To inform her report, the Special Rapporteur invited relevant stakeholders to submit their views via a questionnaire.

View report page for full details.

Related events and materials

  • Participation of the Special Rapporteur in the launch of the British Council’s new essay collection exploring a series of international perspectives on cultural heritage as a central piece of human development, the role of cultural relations as creating conditions in which human development can occur, and on human development as enabled by people-centred approaches and transparent, accountable and participatory governance, all of which make the case for Cultural Heritage and a Rights-based Approach to Development. 10 October 2023
  • Closing remarks by the Special Rapporteur of the training workshop for African female military personnel on the protection of cultural property, organized in Kinshasa by UNESCO’s Secretariat of the 1954 Hague convention and its 2 protocols. 28 July 2023
  • Remote contribution of the Special Rapporteur in the Council of Europe International Conference on the Nicosia Convention on Offences related to cultural Property, organised in Riga, Latvia. 15-16 June 2023
  • Contribution of the Special Rapporteur in the Summer School on protecting and valuing heritage cultural diversity and creativity: a human rights based approach, organised by the Faculty of law of Université Laval (Quebec, Canada), together with its UNESCO Chair on the diversity of cultural expressions, the University of Fribourg UNESCO Chair on diversity and human rights (Switzerland), the Research Center on Culture – Arts-Societies (CELAT) and the Institute for cultural heritage (IPAC). 19 May 2023
  • The Special Rapporteur speaks at the session of the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, who then decides to work together with the Special Rapporteur to advance the observance of cultural rights in its mandate. 15-16 December 2022
  • Participation of the Special Rapporteur in the High Level opening of the International virtual conference Climate. Culture. Peace, organised by ICCROM together with a consortium of 55 partner institutions, as a follow up to the COP26, 24 January 2022. Video recording of the inaugural session here.
  • Side event Beyond symbolic reparations: Perceptions, expectations and challenges in the Al Mahdi case and in Mali, organized by the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court in the framework of the 20th session of the Assembly of States Parties, 10 December 2021.
  • Participation of the Special Rapporteur in the symbolic reparation ceremony for the victims of the destruction of Mausoleums in Timbuktu, organised by the Trust Fund for Victims of the International Criminal Court, 30 March 2021.
  • Keynote address of the Special Rapporteur at the event: “Vandalism in the Name of God,” analysing 2020 “war of the monuments” from a human rights perspective, organised by the Norwegian Council for Religious and Life Stance Communities, online, 8 December 2020. Programme of the event (in Norwegian)
  • Video message of the Special Rapporteur for the UNESCO International Conference on the 20th anniversary of the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention, Geneva, Switzerland, 25 April 2019
  • Keynote address by the Special Rapporteur at the UNESCO event on Responding to Cultural Cleansing, Preventing Violent Extremism, Paris, France, 6 November 2017
  • Keynote address from the Special Rapporteur Karima Bennoune opening the one-day intersessional seminar organised by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on "Cultural Rights and the Protection of Cultural Heritage", Geneva, 7 July 2017
  • Opening Video address from the Special Rapporteur Karima Bennoune, Europa Nostra European Heritage Congress "Sharing Heritage - Citizens Participation in Decision Making", Turku, Finland, 13 May 2017
  • Intervention by the Special Rapporteur at the Fourth Universal meeting of National IHL Committees on Enhancing Protection in Armed Conflict through Domestic Law and Policy, Geneva, Switzerland, 30 November to 2 December 2016
  • "Time to end intentional destruction of cultural heritage: a human rights call to action", Side event, New York, 27 October 2016
  • Intervention of the Special rapporteur in the High-Level meeting and Technical Conference of UNESCO on Cultural Diversity under Attack: Protecting Heritage for Peace, Brussels, Belgium, 9-10 June 2016
  • "Destruction of cultural heritage: contextualizing the human rights aspect with a view to prevention or mitigation", Geneva, 29 February 2016
  • Key address by the Special Rapporteur at the symposium on Heritage and cultural rights: the limits of heritage, Cultural Heritage Center for Asia and the Pacific, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia, 16 to 17 April 2015
  • Feature story: The destruction of cultural and religious sites: a violation of human rights, 24 September 2012
  • Key note participation of the Special Rapporteur at the Symposium on cultural rights, organized by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Honiara, Solomon Islands, 9 to 11 July 2012
  • Side event "Access to and enjoyment of cultural heritage", Geneva, 1 June 2011
  • Public consultation on "Access to cultural heritage as a human right", Geneva, 10 February 2011

Other documents of the Special Rapporteur

  • Expert contribution to the International Criminal Court case "The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Al Faqi Al Mahdi", 27 April 2017
  • "Cultural heritage is a human right issue", article on the substance of the thematic report to the UN General Assembly, contributing to the Wide angle project of UNESCO (published 26 October 2016)

Further developments in the UN system

  • HRC’s work on cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage (in chronological order)
  • HRC adopts resolution 43/29, which references the necessity to protect cultural heritage and to ensure the full enjoyment of cultural rights in the context of genocide prevention.
  • A group of cities and local governments adopt the Geneva Declaration "Human Rights and cultural heritage: committed cities working together", an initiative supported by High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, 26 March 2018
  • The UN Security Council adopts resolution 2347 (March 2017), condemning the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage as well as the looting and smuggling of cultural property from archaeological sites, museums, libraries, archives, and other sites, in the context of armed conflicts and recalling the responsibility of States to protect heritage during armed conflicts;
  • The Expert Mechanisms on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopts a report on the promotion and protection of the rights of Indigenous Peoples with respect to their cultural heritage” (A/HRC/30/53), 19 August 2015 
  • The UN Security Council adopts resolution 2199 (February 2015) condemning destruction of cultural heritage in Iraq and Syria

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