Protection Mechanisms for Cultural Expressions under Threat
Published 5 February 2014
Introduction
The objective of this article is to examine, from a comparative perspective, the protection offered by the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (CSICH) and the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (CDCE) regarding cultural expressions under threat. Negotiators of both the CSICH and the CDCE considered it important to grant, under both legal instruments, a specific treatment to situations of vulnerability and urgency of protection. Specific mechanisms were therefore included to cover this type of situation.
Starting from a comparison of the objectives and the perspective adopted by the CDCE in contrast to those of the CSICH (section I), this article analyzes the protection mechanisms offered by the CSICH and the CDCE to endangered cultural expressions (section II) in order to propose insights on the complementarity of those two legal instruments, as well as on the employability and usefulness of the CDCE specifically regarding cultural expressions under threat.
This paper will be part of our second 'Art and Heritage Disputes' special which will focus on intangible heritage disputes.