Paris, April 6 (No.2001-55) - The 4th Meeting of Governmental Experts on the Draft Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage will resume its work in late June early July, in keeping with a proposal made by the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, with the intention of making possible further consultations on outstanding points.

Some 350 governmental experts - representing 100 UNESCO Member States, two permanent observers, eight non-governmental organizations and the Division of Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea (DOALOS) of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations - met at UNESCO Headquarters from March 26 to April 6.

The two weeks of debates, conducted under the Chair of Carsten Lund (Denmark), yielded a consensus on many issues, notably concerning the priority to be given to the preservation in situ of underwater cultural heritage. There was also agreement on the principles of co-operation between States and information-sharing, on the relation to salvage and finds legislation, on the need to raise public awareness concerning the value and interest of cultural underwater heritage, and on the rules concerning activities directed at underwater cultural heritage, which are inspired by the 1996 Charter of International Council of Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) on the protection and management of underwater cultural heritage.

Further discussions will still be required during the second part of the meeting on key issues, such as the responsibility of coastal states for cultural heritage situated on the continental shelf.

To reach agreement on the draft Convention, the participants are facing the challenge of having to integrate different concerns including: respect for existing international laws touching upon this subject, such as the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the particular interests of States, cultural, scholarly, environmental and scientific considerations, the rights of the public and the interests of private entities.

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