A New International Regime for the Protection of Cultural Heritage

In November 2001, a new weapon was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s arsenal used to protect and preserve the world’s cultural heritage, in the form of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage . This Convention, while not yet in force, will complement UNESCO’s three other heritage conventions, the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Armed Conflict , the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, (1971) and the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.