The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage: a Future for our Past?

Authors: González, Ariel W.¹; O'Keefe, Patrick²; Williams, Michael³

Source: Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, Volume 11, Number 1, 2009 , pp. 54-69(16)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

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Abstract:

The UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage was designed to come into force after the date of deposit of the twentieth instrument of ratification, acceptance, approval or accession (Article 27). This occurred in January 2009 after the deposition of an instrument of acceptance by Barbados on 2 October 2008. Now the Convention is in force it creates binding obligations under international law between those States Parties. But it will do more than this; in March 2009 the Director-General of UNESCO convened a meeting of States Parties in Paris, to decide the functions, responsibilities and rules of procedure in relation to the Convention. This paper discusses the implications of the Convention at both the domestic and international levels, considers why some nations have not chosen to ratify, and how such objections might be overcome.

Keywords: UNDERWATER ARCHAEOLOGY; MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY; UNDERWATER CULTURAL HERITAGE; HERITAGE LAW; ETHICS; CULTURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT; SHIPWRECKS

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1179/135050309X12508566208443

Affiliations: 1: Embassy of Argentina in Austria 2: University of Queensland, Australia 3: University of Wolverhampton, UK