International Cultural Heritage Law (2018)

Abstract

Recently, discussions on ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage (ich) in emergencies’ have started within the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage1 which, since its 11th session, highlights the ever increasing importance attributed to ich in the context of natural disasters.2 Such a global initiative was launched to better understand the role of ich in emergencies and, to this aim, to gain knowledge and experience on the role of communities in both safeguarding their ich at risk in emergencies and mobilizing the latter as a tool for preparedness, resilience, reconciliation and recovery. Decision 13, adopted by the Committee during its 13th session in Port Louis, constitutes the latest effort in this regard.3 As far as disasters are concerned, Decision 13 also builds upon the Addendum to the Strategy for the Reinforcement of unesco’s Action for the Protection of Culture and the Promotion of Cultural Pluralism in the Event of Armed Conflict, concerning emergencies associated with disasters caused by natural and human-induced hazards.4 This addendum crucially adapts the international drr policy framework to the whole cultural domain, instead that to World Heritage alone, as it was the case earlier. In this respect, inventories of ich are playing an increasingly important role. The development of inventories of ich is one of the first and clearest obligations established by the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage, since ich cannot be protected if it is not specified what specific