Introduction
The UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects 1995 came into force on 1 July 1998. As of 6 February 2012, it has 32 States Parties.
In 1983 a meeting of experts at UNESCO in Paris had recommended that UNESCO consult with another organization specializing in the harmonization of what is called “private law” issues, i.e., issues arising from dealings between private citizens. UNESCO already had the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970, but this was a “public law” Convention which dealt with matters between States. The experts in 1983 saw there were developing problems with matters such as time limitations (when a claim for return of an object would be barred because too much time had elapsed since the wrongdoing) and the status of the “bona fide” purchaser (a claim to an object could not succeed because the person who possessed it had bought it not...
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Gerstenblith, P. 2003. The McClain/Schultz doctrine: another step against trade in stolen antiquities. Culture Without Context: The Newsletter of the Illicit Antiquities Research Centre 13: 5-8.
Lalive, P. 1999. Une Convention internationale qui dėrange: La Convention UNIDROIT sur les biens culturels. Extracts published in English in L.V. Prott (2009). Witnesses to history: a compendium of documents and writings on the return of cultural objects: 322-325. Paris. UNESCO.
Lufkin, M. 2002. Frederick Schultz is sentenced to 33 months in prison. The Art Newspaper, July-August 2002, p. 5.
O’Keefe, P.J. 2009. Using UNIDROIT to avoid cultural heritage disputes: limitation periods, in J.A.R Nafziger & A.M. Nicgorski (ed.) Cultural heritage issues: the legacy of conquest, colonization, and commerce: 389-402. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Prott, L.V. 1997.Commentary on the UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen and Illegally Exported Cultural Objects 1995. Builth Wells: Institute of Art and Law.
Swiss Working Group. 1999. International transfer of cultural objects: UNESCO Convention of 1970 and UNIDROIT Convention of 1995. Berne: Federal Office of Culture.
Further Reading
Abd El Wahed, M. 2003. The 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects: a view from Egypt. Uniform Law Review 8: 529-540.
Forrest, C. 2010. International law and the protection of cultural heritage. Abingdon: Routledge.
O’Keefe, P.J. & L. V. Prott. 2011. Cultural heritage conventions and other instruments: a compendium with commentaries. Builth Wells: Institute of Art and Law.
Prott, L.V. 2009a. Ten years in force – The UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects. Art Antiquity and Law 14: 195-218.
- 2009b. Witnesses to history: a compendium of documents and writings on the return of cultural objects. Paris: UNESCO.
Schneider, M. 2001. The UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects: explanatory report. Uniform Law Review 6: 476-564.
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O’Keefe, P.J. (2014). UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (1995). In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1268
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