|
The Director General of UNESCO has said: |
 |
"We can never overemphasize the importance of relentlessly combating illicit trafficking in cultural property and of establishing international cooperation in this regard through ratification by many States of the 1970 UNESCO Convention that deals with illicit trafficking in cultural property and by facilitating the return of cultural property to its countries of origin. |
Each of us, every citizen of the world has a share in the common heritage, but our right to enjoy it is complementary to and inseparable from a duty to understand and a duty to transmit.
That is why UNESCO places great emphasis on the need for genuine heritage education to enable all generations, especially the young, to understand what is truly at stake and, with that knowledge, to become active and committed defenders of the heritage.
That is why UNESCO also places great emphasis on the need for States to ratify the international instruments that aim to protect the cultural heritage as a whole and to adopt national regulations to protect and preserve their historical heritage and encourage the development of living cultures. This will make international cooperation truly meaningful by establishing a worldwide network united in the purpose of assuming shared responsibility for a common heritage."
Taken from: Address by Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO on the occasion of the presentation of the follow-up to the United Nations Year for Cultural Heritage to the United Nations General Assembly at its 58th session, New York, 31 October 2003/ DG/2003/150 |
|
 |
|
