BEING ABLE TO VISIT CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES, SUCH AS ANGKOR
WAT OR MACHU PICCHU
By: James G. Apple, Editor-in-Chief, International
Judicial Monitor, and President, International Judicial Academy.
(In celebration
of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the American
Society of International Law in 2006, the Society published a small pamphlet
titled International Law: One Hundred Ways
It Shapes Our Lives. The Introduction
gives an explanation for its conception: an affirmation that “international law
not only exists, but also penetrates much more deeply and broadly into everyday
life than the people it affects may generally appreciate.” This column seeks to
elucidate and elaborate on many of the 100 ways briefly presented in the ASIL
pamphlet.)
According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO – see
below) there were 980 million international tourists in 2011. Considering that
the total population of the earth is approximately 7 billion persons, the first
statistic has special meaning: almost one seventh of the world’s population was
traveling internationally in that year. That amazing statistic was supposed to
change and rise by 3% or 4% in 2012, which means that last year over one
billion persons were international travelers. The prediction has been confirmed
by the statistics available for 2012; the total number of international travelers
last year was 1.035 billion, marking the first time in world history that over
one billion people traveled abroad in a single year.
There are some other startling statistics relating to
international travel in 2011: the amount spent by international travelers
amounted to 5% of the global gross domestic product (GDP) of all countries in
the world; international tourism generated over one trillion dollars in export
earnings; international tourism supported 235 million jobs worldwide ; and
international tourist travel constituted 30% of the world’s export of services.
International law is part of the reason for the spectacular
growth in international tourism in recent years, because of the existence of a
number of international agreements “preserving natural, cultural, and heritage
sites for educational, cultural and social benefit.” These international
agreements are the UNESCO Convention Concerning the Protection of the World
Cultural and Natural Heritage (the World Heritage Convention of 1972); the Hague
Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed
Conflict (1954); the Second Hague Protocol (1999); and the Additional Protocol
to the 1949 Geneva Conventions relating to the Protection of Victims of
International Armed Conflicts (1977). The most important of these international
agreements is the 1972 World Heritage Convention.
After World War I and considering the devastation that
occurred on the battlefields of France and Belgium, there developed two
movements, one promoting the preservation of cultural sites, and the second
focusing on the conservation of nature.
In 1959 there occurred a single event which mobilized those
interested in these movements to take strong action. That single event was the
proposed building of the Aswan High Dam in Egypt, which if built without
modification of the plans, would have destroyed the very historic Abu Simbel
Temples, dating from ancient Egyptian civilization. Ultimately the dam was
built, but only after the temples had been moved to another location.
The Aswan Dam controversy was followed by a conference in
Washington, D.C. in 1965. The main proposal considered at this conference was a
World Heritage Trust that would through international cooperation protect and
preserve natural and historic sites for future generations. The idea was
further considered by various organizations. A formal proposal was presented in
1972 to a UN conference on the human environment in Stockholm. The result was
the World Heritage Convention.