International Control of illicit Movement of the cultural heritage: the 1970 UNESCO Convention and some possible alternatives

Although legislative concern to prevent activities that damage the cultural heritage goes back to at least the sixteenth century in Europe, the effect of the greatly increased international and transnational activity this century has meant that many problems are beyond the capacity of national states to control. There have, therefore, been many attempts to use international law for the protection of the cultural heritage to formulate agreed policies on activities affecting the cultural heritage. This movement has created some difficult issues for governments where cultural matters have traditionally not been a subject for government regulation. Most common law countries are in this group. Nevertheless, the use of legislative controls in new areas is an inevitable phenomenon: it is not so long, after all, since governments have been active in the field of public health. Indeed, there are many other areas, traditionally considered as matters for the internal policy-making processes of a state, that have now become matters of international law and have created obligations for states to act within their borders, in ways which may or may not be in conformity with their historic methods of resolvling problems in the area. This is true of areas such as: human rights, which have important implications for national constitutional law; environmental law, which inevitably affects the law of property; and the control of narcotics. The international effect of activities on such matters has now become so significant that only international legal cooperation can give any hope of their resolution.