ربى محمد خليل سليمان حماية التراث الثقافي المغمور بالمياه في المناطق البحرية السيادية

Abstract

         Submerged cultural heritage represents the cultural, civilizational, and historical identity of societies. Nations are keen to protect their heritage, and numerous regional, bilateral, and national efforts have been dedicated to establishing general rules aligned with appropriate protection mechanisms. This has been achieved through accession to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and the adoption of necessary measures to deter violations against it, including the imposition of criminal penalties on those who breach the convention’s provisions and national laws. However, the efforts of some countries have not reached the desired level of effectiveness. Therefore, the UNESCO Convention has established several rules to protect underwater cultural heritage located in sovereign maritime zones. The Convention allows coastal states to intervene in the protection of such heritage within their internal waters, archipelagic waters, territorial sea, and contiguous zone. It has also adopted various measures for its protection, including general measures for monitoring the entry of cultural heritage into states, targeted measures to prevent states from using their maritime zones to conduct activities that may harm underwater cultural heritage without prior authorization, and specific measures aimed at imposing sanctions for violations of the protection rules stipulated in the Convention’s provisions.