A cultural rights approach to heritage

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 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
  • Programme of the event English | Français
  • Video message
  • Procedings of the conference
• Keynote address by the Special Rapporteur at the UNESCO event on Responding to Cultural Cleansing, Preventing Violent Extremism, Paris, France, 6 November 2017
  • Webpage of the event and programme
• 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
  • Consult the dedicated webpage of the event
• 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
  • Text of the addressand video
  • Webpage and programme of the congress
• 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
  • Programme of the conference
• "Time to end intentional destruction of cultural heritage: a human rights call to action", Side event, New York, 27 October 2016
  • Flyer
  • Watch the webcast video.
• 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
  • Programme of the meeting
• "Destruction of cultural heritage: contextualizing the human rights aspect with a view to prevention or mitigation", Geneva, 29 February 2016
  • Flyer
  • Statement by the Special Rapporteur
  • Cross-regional joint statement delivered under item 8 of the HRC Agenda
• 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
  • Programme of the Symposium
• 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 if cultural heritage (in chronological order)
  • Joint statement on cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage (March 2016)
  • resolution 33/20 from September 2016
  • resolution 37/17 from 22 March 2018
  • First intersessional seminar organised by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, 7 July 2017
    • Keynote address from the Special Rapporteur Karima Bennoune opening the one-day intersessional seminar
    • Report of the seminar
  • Second intersessional seminar, organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights,Geneva, 14-15 June 2021 
    • Contribution by the Special Rapporteur Karima Bennoune 
    • Report of the seminar
• 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 UN Security Council adopts resolution 2199 (February 2015) condemning destruction of cultural heritage in Iraq and Syria

Useful links

• UNESCO's Strategy for the Reinforcement of UNESCO's Action for the Protection of Culture and the Promotion of Cultural Pluralism in the Event of Armed Conflict
• ICOM - International Council of Museums
• ICOMOS - International Council on Monuments and Sites
• ICOMOS Stockholm Declaration
• ICOMOS Norway, World heritage and rights based approaches
  • Report of the Advisory Body "Our Common Dignity Initiative" on Rights-based approaches in World Heritage: Taking stock and looking forward
  • Case Studies carried out within the 'Our Common Dignity Initiative 2011-2016: Rights-Based Approaches in World Heritage'
• IUCN - International Union for Conservation of Nature
• Europa Nostra
• RASHID International