Cultural Rights and the Protection of Cultural Heritage

A/HRC/RES/37/17No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2018.

What other versions does this mandate have?

4 versions · 2016–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/58/4

2025A/HRC/RES/58/4Cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritageLatestCompare with previous version
2022A/HRC/RES/49/7Cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritageCompare with previous version
2018A/HRC/RES/37/17Cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritageCompare with previous version
2016A/HRC/RES/33/20Cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

9 topics

Armed Conflicts Conferences Crime Prevention Cultural Heritage Cultural Property Protection Destruction of Property Humanitarian Assistance Illicit Traffic Right to Culture

What does this mandate say?

17 operative paragraphs

Calls upon all States to respect, promote and protect the right of everyone to take part in cultural life, including the ability to access and enjoy cultural heritage;

Urges all parties to armed conflicts to refrain from any unlawful military use or targeting of cultural property, in full conformity with their obligations under international humanitarian law;

Encourages States that have not yet become a party to all relevant treaties that provide for the protection of cultural property to consider doing so;

Calls for enhanced international cooperation in preventing and combating the organized looting, smuggling and theft of and illicit trafficking in cultural objects and in restoring stolen, looted or trafficked cultural property to its country of origin, and invites States to take measures in this regard at the national level to make effective use to this end of relevant tools and databases developed under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Criminal Police Organization and the World Customs Organization, within the scope of their respective mandates;

Encourages the strengthening of dialogue and cooperation between relevant international organizations and States affected by the organized looting, theft and smuggling of and illicit trafficking in cultural property, including through the provision of support and technical assistance aimed at enhancing their national capacities to restore, protect and preserve cultural heritage and property;

Calls for the development of partnerships between competent national authorities and civil society, in particular grass-roots institutions, with the aim of creating a safe and enabling environment to enhance the protection of cultural rights and to promote the right of everyone to take part in cultural life, including the ability to access and enjoy cultural heritage;

Also calls for the identification of innovative ways and best practices, at the national, regional and international levels, for the prevention of violations and abuses of cultural rights, and for participatory and inclusive approaches to the prevention and mitigation of damage caused to cultural heritage, whether tangible or intangible;

Further calls for the recognition of the protection of cultural heritage as an important component of humanitarian assistance, including in armed conflict and with regard also to displaced populations and for enhanced cooperation between the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the mandate of the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and other relevant agencies and stakeholders, with a view to mainstreaming the protection of cultural heritage into humanitarian actions, security strategies and peacebuilding processes, and in post-conflict reconciliation initiatives;

Encourages States to adopt a gender-sensitive and inclusive approach to the protection of cultural heritage and the safeguarding of cultural rights that is respectful of cultural diversity and includes consideration of human rights issues of minority communities and indigenous peoples;

Calls for the safety and security of cultural rights defenders involved in the protection of cultural heritage to be protected, including by investigating and, where appropriate, bringing to justice anyone alleged to have harmed them;

Invites States to adopt effective strategies to prevent the destruction of cultural heritage by, inter alia, ensuring accountability, documenting the cultural heritage within their jurisdiction, including through digital means, implementing educational programmes on the importance of cultural heritage and cultural rights and training military forces and humanitarian actors in all relevant rules concerning the protection of cultural heritage, both during and in the aftermath of armed conflict;

Encourages States to address limitations of cultural rights, to take the measures necessary to prevent the destruction of historic monuments, works of art or places of worship that constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples, both in conflict and non-conflict situations, and to promote respect for cultural diversity;

Also encourages States, the international community, the United Nations and civil society to consider implementing the relevant recommendations contained in the report of the High Commissioner on the intersessional seminar on cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage,1 as well as those made by the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights in her reports presented to the Human Rights Council and to the General Assembly;

Requests the High Commissioner:

To convene, before the forty-fourth session of the Human Rights Council, and in collaboration with the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, relevant agencies and other stakeholders, a two-day workshop in Geneva with the participation of experts from all regions of the world to develop appropriate tools for the dissemination of an approach to the protection, restoration and preservation of cultural heritage that promotes universal respect for cultural rights by all;

To submit a report thereon to the Human Rights Council at its forty-sixth session;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

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