A New International Regime for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage

In November 2001, a new weapon was added to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation's 2 arsenal used to protect and preserve the world's cultural heritage, in the form of the Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. 3 This Convention, while not yet in force, will complement UNESCO's three other heritage conventions, the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Event of Armed Conflict, 4 the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1971) 5 and the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage. 6