The Unesco Convention On The Protection Of The Underwater Cultural Heritage

The 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage represents a major step forward in the field of international law. New archaeological rules as well as a comprehensive co-operation system among the States concerned are set up by the new Convention. Despite the negative attitude assumed by few States at the moment of voting for the text of the Convention, this new international instrument is welcome by the great majority of States. This volume focuses on the main aspects of the Convention. It is divided in two parts, to describe the situation before and after the adoption (and the forthcoming into force) of the Convention. In the first part the contradictions resulting from the regime established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea are analysed together with the undesirable results of the application of the rules of admiralty (law of salvage and law of finds) to the underwater cultural heritage. In the second part the negotiation process is described, both in its general aspects (the myths surrounding the draft) and in its specific results (the drafting of each single provision).

The legal protection of the underwater cultural heritage is a field in which there is growing international interest. Shipwrecks and other underwater cultural remains in every maritime zone are threatened both by activities ‘directed at’ them, such as treasure hunting, and by activities ‘incidentally affecting’ them, such as mineral exploration and exploitation, pipeline and cable-laying, dredging, and fishing. Since the first edition of this collection (published in 1999), the urgent need for an international legal framework to regulate these activities has been formally recognised by the adoption in 2001 of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. While the prospects for this Convention remain uncertain, it will undoubtedly have a profound influence on national laws and practice in this field. This second collection of essays examines the present state of law, policy and practice in sixteen different jurisdictions around the world in light of the 2001 Convention. Among other things, the viewpoint of each jurisdiction in respect of the Convention is considered and the impact that the Convention is already having, and is likely to have in the future, is explored. Eight of the essays are entirely new, and several additional jurisdictions are covered (Finland, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, and Norway). The other essays have been thoroughly updated and revised to take account of the Convention. The contributors come from a variety of backgrounds, but all have specialist knowledge and experience of their particular jurisdiction and a keen interest in the field.

The first full-scale study of the international legal framework governing underwater cultural heritage to be published in nearly two decades.

Shipwrecks are a significant source of history derived from archaeological examination. They are also a source of wonder and enjoyment for those who can go beneath the sea or experience these pleasures through film or video. But all this depends on the proper treatment of wrecks and other underwater sites. If they are destroyed by haphazard ripping of objects from the site, the information and enjoyment are destroyed forever. In November 2001, in an effort to prevent this happening and to establish rules for the proper treatment of underwater cultural heritage, some 87 States voted in favour of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. This book explains the origin of the Convention, the politics behind its preparation and gives an interpretation of its provisions. This completely updated second edition of the book originally published in 2002 examines the background to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and provides a detailed commentary on all the Articles of the Convention and the Rules contained in the Annex, clearly demonstrating the way in which the Convention seeks to regulate salvage and other activities relating to shipwrecks. The book provides contemporary examples of the impact of underwater salvage operations on the cultural heritage located beneath the surface of the oceans and the way in which the Convention can address these issues.

This book examines the background to the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the way in which it seeks to regulate salvage and other activities relating to shipwrecks.

The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage 2001, which entered into force internationally in 2009, is designed to deal with threats to underwater cultural heritage arising as a result of advances in deep-water technology. However, the relationship between this new treaty and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea is deeply controversial. This study of the international legal framework regulating human interference with underwater cultural heritage explores the development and present status of the framework and gives some consideration to how it may evolve in the future. The central themes are the issues that provided the UNESCO negotiators with their greatest challenges: the question of ownership rights in sunken vessels and cargoes; sovereign immunity and sunken warships; the application of salvage law; the ethics of commercial exploitation; and, most crucially, the question of jurisdictional competence to regulate activities beyond territorial sea limits.