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Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001)

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Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology

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The Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2001. It entered into force internationally on 2 January 2009, 3 months after the date of deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification. As at 29 August 2017, the Convention had been ratified by 57 States. The genesis of the Convention was in 1988, and it was therefore the product of 13 years of drafting work and negotiations.

The Convention is an international treaty which is designed to create a comprehensive and uniform legal framework to regulate human interference with underwater cultural heritage (UCH) in order to ensure that such heritage is preserved for the benefit of humanity. For the most part, its provisions are aimed at regulating activities which are “directed at” UCH, in other words activities conducted with an intention to physically disturb UCH. Therefore, while the Convention is primarily aimed at...

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References

  • O’Hara, E. 2000. Maritime and fluvial cultural heritage. Report prepared for committee on culture and education. Strasbourg: Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

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Further Readings

  • Camarda, G., and T. Scovazzi, eds. 2002. The protection of the underwater cultural heritage: Legal aspects. Milan: Giuffrè Editore.

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  • Dromgoole, S. 2006. The protection of the underwater cultural heritage: National Perspectives in light of the UNESCO convention 2001. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

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  • Dromgoole, S. 2013. Underwater cultural heritage and international law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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  • Forrest, C. 2010. International law and the protection of cultural heritage. London/New York: Routledge. Chap. 6.

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  • Garabello, R., and T. Scovazzi, eds. 2003. The protection of the underwater cultural heritage: Before and after the 2001 UNESCO convention. Leiden/Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.

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  • O’Keefe, P.J. 2014. Shipwrecked heritage: A commentary on the UNESCO convention on underwater cultural heritage. Leicester: Institute of Art and Law.

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  • Prott, L.V. 2006. Finishing the interrupted voyage: Papers of the UNESCO Asia-Pacific workshop on the 2001 convention on the protection of the underwater cultural heritage. Leicester: Institute of Art and Law.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK

    Sarah Dromgoole

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  1. Sarah Dromgoole
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Correspondence to Sarah Dromgoole .

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, MA, USA

    Angela Labrador

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Dromgoole, S. (2018). Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001). In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1040-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1040-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51726-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51726-1

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