The 1970 Unesco convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property : implications for Thailand
Abstract:
Cultural property is one of the basic elements which constitutes very precious cultural heritage of the state and of humans. It is the historic evidence elucidating the past in manifold aspects and also reflects the prestige and pride of all humanity. If we desire to realize and appreciate the value of cultural property, we ought to understand cultural property in the context of source, history and place of origin. Thus, it is the responsibility of every country to protect it own cultural property from illegal excavation or export. To prevent the destruction of cultural property, each country must be bound with the obligation not only to protect its own cultural property but also to cooperate to protect the cultural property of all humanity in order to bring the whole world together. The main objective of this thesis is to study the effect of the 1970 UNESCO convention on the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property. The aim of this Convention is to protect cultural property and to regulate measures and policies on its import and export at the international and national levels. From this research, it is found that the effective protection of cultural property must only not stem from the sole responsibility of the Government, but also from the full cooperation between Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) and all the citizens in society. Thus, in order to strengthen the protection of cultural property, the Government must closely cooperate with other states to deal with this matter and is supposed to become party to the 1970 UNESCO convention.