Lundi 20 janvier 2025: Michele D'Addetta

Abstract:

The interplay between cultural heritage and human rights has gained growing attention by international legal instruments, organizations, and academic research in human rights and international cultural heritage law. Yet, an enforceable human right to cultural heritage remains absent from any legal text with global applicability.

This study examines the normative scope of the right of access and to enjoyment of cultural heritage. Drawing on the framework provided by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights’ 2011 Report on access to cultural heritage as a human right, it explores access and enjoyment across several dimensions: heritage identification, existence/integrity, physical, economic, and informational. It reviews how access to and enjoyment of cultural heritage are reflected in international legal instruments beyond UNESCO’s Culture Conventions and analyzes decisions by regional human rights courts (the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights) and other international tribunals.

Furthermore, the study assesses the monitoring of State obligations concerning access to and enjoyment of cultural heritage within the UN human rights system. It focuses on mechanisms such as the UN Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights and the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, particularly the individual communication procedure under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It then examines the compatibility of the right of access to and enjoyment of cultural heritage with the Italian system, comparing its legal framework with those of Portugal, Brazil, and Switzerland.

The research centers on cultural heritage protection during peacetime, emphasizing both the individual and collective dimension of access to and enjoyment, as well as the role of communities. Particular attention is given to participation in heritage-related decision-making processes as a key principle underpinning access and enjoyment. The study underscores the centrality of guaranteeing such participation as a State obligation and evaluates how the latter is enforced and monitored within international, regional, and domestic legal systems.