The 1972 World Heritage Convention and the Convention on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions

This writing has the purpose to shed a light on the relationship between the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression and the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage (World Heritage Convention), in light of the fact that certain cultural properties may be of significance under both these legal instruments. In particular, it is examined, on the one hand, how the two conventions in point can be integrated with each other for ensuring better protection to cultural heritage (intended in its widest sense), and, on the other hand, how the potential conflicts between them may be settled. To this purpose, after providing a general assessment of the evolution of international law on cultural heritage and a summary review of the system set up by the World Heritage Convention, this writing is concentrated on the possible aspects of (positive and negative) interaction between the two conventions, with particular attention to their mutual supportiveness in interpretation, to their complementarity as well as, finally, to the latent aspects of conflict between them.