The UNESCO Regime for the Protection of World Heritage

Abstract

The elaborate description and legal analysis of the UNESCO regime documents a rather developed international administration and cooperation in the field of the protection of cultural and natural sites of outstanding value. Therefore it serves very well as an example for proving the value of the international composite administration model. First of all, the UNESCO regime is a good and convincing example for the existence and exercise of international public authority. The heart of the regime, governed by the World Heritage Convention, concerns the relations between an organ of an international organisation, the World Heritage Committee, and the State Parties. In substance, the protection of cultural and natural sites is a concern which the States themselves regard as their responsibility. The World Heritage Committee offers its assistance under the condition that, first, the site is of sufficient importance for mankind and second, the State requests such assistance.

I would like to thank Eric Pickett for his very helpful comments on a previous draft of this article.