Cultural Rights and the Protection of Cultural Heritage

A/HRC/RES/33/20View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Human Rights Council, under agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2016.

What other versions does this mandate have?

4 versions · 2016–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/HRC/RES/58/4

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/HRC/RES/58/4	Cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage	2,853	69%Compare
2022	A/HRC/RES/49/7	Cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage	2,104	71%Compare
2018	A/HRC/RES/37/17	Cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage	1,594	69%Compare
2016	A/HRC/RES/33/20	Cultural rights and the protection of cultural heritage	1,289	–

What subjects does this mandate have?

10 subjects

Armed Conflicts Conferences Crime Prevention Cultural Heritage Cultural Property Protection Cultural Property Restitution Destruction of Property Illicit Traffic International Cooperation Right to Culture

What’s in this document?

17 operative paragraphs

Calls upon all States to respect, promote and protect the right of everyone to take part in cultural life, including the ability to access and enjoy cultural heritage;

Urges all parties to armed conflicts to refrain from any unlawful military use or targeting of cultural property, in full conformity with their obligations under international humanitarian law;

Encourages States that have not yet become a party to all relevant treaties that provide for the protection of cultural property to consider doing so;

Calls for enhanced international cooperation in preventing and combating the organized looting, smuggling and theft of and illicit trafficking in cultural objects and in restoring stolen, looted or trafficked cultural property to its countries of origin, and invites States to take measures in this regard at the national level to make effective use to this end of relevant tools and databases developed under the auspices of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the World Customs Organization and the International Criminal Police Organization, within the scope of their respective mandates;

Encourages the strengthening of dialogue and cooperation between relevant international organizations and States affected by the organized looting, theft or smuggling of or illicit trafficking in cultural property, including through the provision of support and technical assistance aimed at enhancing their national capacities to restore, protect and preserve cultural heritage and property;

Calls for the development of partnerships between competent national authorities and civil society, in particular grass-roots institutions, with the aim of enhancing the protection of cultural rights and promoting the right of everyone to participate in cultural life, including the ability to access and enjoy cultural heritage;

Also calls for the identification of innovative ways and best practices, at the national, regional and international levels, for the prevention of violations and abuses of cultural rights, and for the prevention and mitigation of damage caused to cultural heritage, both tangible or intangible;

Further calls for the recognition of the protection of cultural heritage as an important component of humanitarian assistance, including in armed conflict and with regard also to displaced populations;

Encourages States to adopt a gender-sensitive approach to the protection of cultural heritage and the safeguarding of cultural rights;

Calls for the safety and security of cultural rights defenders involved in the protection of cultural heritage to be protected, including by investigating and, where appropriate, bringing to justice anyone alleged to have harmed them;

Invites States to adopt effective strategies to prevent the destruction of cultural heritage by, inter alia, ensuring accountability, documenting the cultural heritage within their jurisdiction, including through digital means, implementing educational programmes on the importance of cultural heritage and cultural rights and training military forces in all relevant rules concerning the protection of cultural heritage, both during and in the aftermath of armed conflict;

Encourages States to consider implementing the recommendations on intentional destruction of cultural heritage made by the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights in her reports presented to the Human Rights Council1 and to the General Assembly;⁴

⁴A/71/317.

Requests the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:

To convene, before the thirty-sixth session of the Human Rights Council, a one-day intersessional seminar on ways to prevent, contain and/or mitigate the detrimental impact of the damage to or destruction of cultural heritage on the enjoyment of human rights, including cultural rights by all, and on best practices in this regard;

To invite States, the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights and other relevant stakeholders from diverse regions, including experts and civil society organizations, and relevant United Nations agencies, funds and programmes, other international organizations and cultural rights defenders involved in the protection of cultural heritage to participate actively in the above-mentioned seminar;

To submit to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-seventh session a report, in the form of a summary, on the seminar;

Decides to remain seized of the matter.

Reissued for technical reasons on 7 October 2016.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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