Return or Restitution of Cultural Property to the Countries of Countries of Origin

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 21 Return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin, published in 1981.

What subjects does this mandate have?

1 subject

Cultural Property Restitution

What’s in this document?

16 operative paragraphs

Renews its support for the solemn appeal launched on 7 June 1978 by the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for the return to those who created it of an irreplaceable cultural heritage;

Reaffirms that the restitution to a country of its objets d'art, monuments, museum pieces, archives, manuscripts, documents and any other cultural or artistic treasures contributes to the strengthening of international co-operation and to the preservation and flowering of universal cultural values through fruitful co-operation between developed and developing countries;

Commends the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation on the work they have accomplished, particularly through the promotion of bilateral negotiations, for the return or restitution of cultural property. the preparation of inventories of movable cultural property, the development of infrastructures for the protection of movable cultural property, the reduction of illicit traffic in cultural property and the dissemination of information to the public;

Requests the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to intensify its efforts to help the countries concerned to find suitable solutions to the problem relating to the return or restitution of cultural property and urges Member States to co-operate with that organization in this area;

Invites Member States to take adequate measures to prohibit and prevent the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property. and to put an end to the illicit trafficking in priceless objets d'art and museum pieces by all necessary measures within each country's jurisdiction with the full co-operation of the courts and customs authorities;

Also invites Member States to draw up, in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. systematic inventories of cultural property existing in their territories and of their cultural property abroad;

Appeals to museums and public and private collectors to return totally or partially. or make available to the countries of origin, particularly the items kept in the storehouses of such museums, and to help the countries of origin, with the co-operation of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in their endeavours to prepare an inventory of those collections;

Reminds Member States of the need to strengthen museum infrastructures, in particular conservation techniques, museographic facilities and procedures adapted to local conditions and the training of qualified personnel;

Calls upon the United Nations Development Programme to continue to assist the development of national capacity in respect of museum infrastructures and invites Member States as well as national agencies and regional organizations to strengthen their technical co-operation in this area;

_ 10.

Appeals to Member States to co-operate closely with the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation and to conclude bilateral agreements for this purpose;

Also appeals to Member States to encourage the mass information media and educational and cultural institutions to strive to arouse a greater and more general awareness with regard to the return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin;

Urges all Governments to reproduce the reports and studies made by archaeologists and explorers from the developed countries, especially if those studies are out of print, and to make them available to the countries of origin;

/ nvites once again Member States to sign and ratify the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property;

Requests the Secretary-General, in co-operation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to take the necessary measures to alert and mobilize international public opinion in favour of the return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin, in particular by mobilizing the United Nations information media for this purpose;

Further requests the Secretary-General, in cooperation with the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to submit to the General Assembly at its thirty-eighth session a report on the implementation of the present resolution;

Reiterates its desire that the second World Conference on Cultural Policies, to be held in 1982, should devote considerable attention to the question of return or restitution of cultural property with a view to improving international cultural co-operation;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its thirty-eighth session the item entitled "Return or restitution of cultural property to the countries of origin".

26 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Records of the General Conference, Sixteenth Session, vol. 1. Resolutions. pp. 135-141.

27 A/36/651.

·'° See Official Records of the General Assemblv, Thirtv-sixth Session, 2• Resolution 2951 (XXVII).

Annexes, agenda item 133, document A/36/197, annex. · 29 Resolution 35/55.

"Ibid., Thirtv-sixth Session. Supplement No. 23 (A/36/23/Rev. I).

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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