Our past beneath the waves: The legal protection of underwater cultural heritage from an international, North Sea and Belgian perspective
Derudder, T. (2019). Our past beneath the waves: The legal protection of underwater cultural heritage from an international, North Sea and Belgian perspective. PhD Thesis. Ghent University, Faculty of Law and Criminology: Gent. 449 pp. |  |
| Available in | Author | | Document type: Dissertation
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| Author keywords | underwater cultural heritage, UNESCO, UNCLOS, North Sea, Belgium, law of salvage and finds, shipwrecks, maritime (war) graves, Council of Europe, Valletta Convention, European Union. |
| Abstract | Our cultural heritage can teach us a great deal about our past and how our society came to be. It is an important factor creating economic growth through, inter alia, tourism and enhances socialcohesion. Cultural heritage gives a sense of cultural identity. While most heritage sites are very well-known and frequented by tourists on a daily basis, this dissertation addresses a type of heritage the extent and importance of which is often underestimated or even unknown to the wider public, namely underwater cultural heritage (UCH). These UCH sites, of which some have been recovered over the years, but many still lie scattered across the oceans, offer important insights in past human life. A wide variety in types of UCH can be found ranging from shipwrecksand wrecks of aircraft over submerged structures, buildings and ports to even prehistoric objects and landscapes. While highly valuable from an archaeological, historical and cultural point of view, these heritage sites are often under a threat of being damaged or looted. Therefore, it is crucial that a solid legal framework exists for their protection. The aim of this dissertation is to assess the Belgian legal framework for the protection of UCH, which was adopted as recently as in 2014 andto formulate suggestions for the Belgian legislator to improve and further this legislation in light of the international obligations accepted by Belgium. To come to these suggestions thisdissertation looks into the protection of UCH at several legislative levels. Firstly the international legal framework is discussed paying particular regard to the UNESCO Convention for the protection of UCH of 2001 which up till today remains the only legal international instrument fully dedicated to UCH. This Convention sets out the rules and principles for dealing with UCH located in the different maritime zones and consolidates a set of internationally accepted archaeological standards with which activities directed at UCH must comply. Belgium ratified this Convention in 2013 and aims to fully implement it in its national legislation. Secondly, the role of the European Union is looked into which, while having very limited competences in the field of UCH management, can still be of great use as a funding, cooperation and coordination platform. Subsequently, the most important instruments in the field of heritage protection adopted by the Council of Europe, including the 1992 Valletta Convention, are discussed. Finally, the national approach for protecting and managing UCH of four States bordering the North Sea, namely France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany, is assessed in detail as well as their relation with and views on the UNESCO Convention. All the observations are combined in the end toconduct a critical review of the Belgian legal framework for UCH protection. This allows this dissertation to answer the question to what extent the Belgian UCH-Act is already in conformity with the UNESCO Convention and how this Act can be further developed in order for it to fully implement this convention and function at its full extent. |
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