HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE ON THE TRANSPOSITIONOF THE 1972 UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE CONVENTIONIN THE NATIONAL LEGISLATIONS OF ITS STATES PARTIES

As of August 2017, the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention counts 193 States Parties and can be consequently considered as one of the most universal treaties. This Convention aims to protect the cultural and natural heritage of humankind at the international level. To do so, the World Heritage Committee – a body of 21 States Parties to the World Heritage Convention elected for 4 years – decides yearly to inscribe new sites on the World Heritage List. The World Heritage Committee also reviews the state of conservation of the World Heritage Sites when they are endangered by threats such as armed conflicts, natural disasters, development projects, etc. It can decide to place a site on the List of World Heritage in Danger or to delist a site if it considers that the site has lost its Outstanding Universal Value, authenticity and integrity, based on which it had originally been inscribed on the World Heritage List. At the national level, the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention have rights but also obligations and responsibilities towards the Convention. After ratifying it, how do the States Parties transpose the World Heritage Convention in their national legislations? What are the direct and indirect legal effects? Is there a difference between centralised states and federal states? 45 years after the adoption of the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention, this paper presents a historical perspective on the interpretation of this Convention in the national legislations of its States Parties. First, an analysis of the rights, obligations and responsibilities of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention is elaborated. Then, a selection of case studies from different political systems permits to en- lighten the similarities and differences among the States Parties. Finally, based on these results some perspectives for the future use of the World Heritage Convention are elaborated upon.