Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-7pwfn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-15T23:56:43.143Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Banja Luka Conference on Cultural and Natural Heritage in the Balkans—October 30 to November 1, 2006

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 February 2007

Jelena Vilus
Jelena Vilus
Affiliation:
European Center for Peace and Development, Belgrade. Email: jvilus@EUnet.yu
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The first regional conference on integrative protection, entitled Cultural Landscape: A Modern Approach to the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage in the Balkans, was held in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on October 30 to November 1, 2006. The conference was organized by European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) of the University for Peace established by the United Nations with support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, Republican Institute for Protection of Cultural-Historical and Natural Heritage, Banja Luka, and the City of Banja Luka. More than 100 participants attended the conference, which consisted of papers on various issues prepared by experts from the Balkan region.

Information

Type
CONFERENCE REPORTS
Information
International Journal of Cultural Property , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , November 2006, pp. 445 - 446
Copyright
© 2006 International Cultural Property Society

The first regional conference on integrative protection, entitled Cultural Landscape: A Modern Approach to the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage in the Balkans, was held in Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on October 30 to November 1, 2006. The conference was organized by European Center for Peace and Development (ECPD) of the University for Peace established by the United Nations with support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, Republican Institute for Protection of Cultural-Historical and Natural Heritage, Banja Luka, and the City of Banja Luka. More than 100 participants attended the conference, which consisted of papers on various issues prepared by experts from the Balkan region.

Among more than 30 papers, several were devoted to the legal aspects of cultural property, including one by J. Vilus, from ECPD and another by M. Schneider from International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). Both papers were focused to international instruments dealing with the protection of cultural property. Besides the UNESCO and UNIDROIT conventions, the conference was informed of the most recent ILA Principles of the Mutual Protection and Transfer of Cultural Material, adopted in Toronto in 2006. It was agreed that these principles may be complementary to already existing private law conventions, especially in trying to solve the problems of transfer through negotiation. If the parties would be unable to solve a dispute, they should submit their dispute “to good offices, consultations, mediation, consultation, ad hoc arbitration, or institutional arbitrations.” All these ways are preferable to the court settlement, which is usually lengthy, costly, and often without the participation of experts who are familiar with cultural property.

Through the papers and discussion, the conference unanimously reached the following conclusions:

To ensure continuity in the work of the conference by holding a meeting once a year in different centers of the Balkan states

To select Banja Luka as the primary venue of the conference and name it the Banja Luka Conference

To serve as an advisory body to the governments, ministries, and regional and local authorities. For that purpose the ECPD will consider cooperating with UNIDROIT from Rome and other international organizations to set up an international expert group that will treat the issue of utter importance, not only for the Balkan countries but for the international community as well.

One of the observations, expressed by Professor Takehiro Togo, president of the ECPD Academic Council was especially interesting and important:

The road the Balkans must travel to reduce inequity through development, and aspire to tolerance and reconciliation is a long one, but that road can be made easier by examining the destruction of its heritage and by promoting its cultural, historical and natural heritage as a common European social capital and European identity. It has to be popularized for the benefit of all and presented to the world in appropriate ways to promote the Balkan identity as a cradle of European civilization. This is one way in which the region can tell its story, reflect on its various streams of consciousness and parallel realities that it represents and provide an existing and attractive Balkan narrative for the world. We believe that this is one of the ways to help change the external image of the region.