The Protection of Cultural Heritage in International Law

Abstract

Protecting cultural heritage has arisen as an aspect of international investment law as a result of conflicts between the legitimate interests of foreign investors and those of host states. However, there are no international investment law regulations to govern when measures a host state takes to protect its cultural heritage for the public interest affect the rights of a foreign investor. Moreover, the main aim of international investment law is to protect the foreign investments in host states, and protecting the cultural heritage of the host state is not a priority. It is necessary to examine whether international investment law encompasses regulations on protecting the cultural heritage when a host state takes protective measures that affect foreign investments. Therefore, this study entails analyzing first the international regulations on cultural heritage and then awards related to cultural heritage in investment law; relevant international standards of investment protection principles are examined and discussed in the context of current regulations in current investment treaties.