Cultural Property: its Illicit Trafficking and Restitution

This is one of UNESCO's flagship programs! UNESCO has been actively involved in the return and restitution of cultural property for many years. It has led in the elaboration of a set of multilateral treaties:

• Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954) and its two protocols (1954 and 1999)
• UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970)
• UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (1995)
• Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001)
• Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003)
• Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005)

An information note has been prepared to facilitate the understanding of the complimentarity between and the functioning of the 1970 UNESCO Convention and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention.

Read more on the UNESCO program!