Meeting of States Parties & Sessions

The Meeting of States Parties

The Meeting of States Parties is the sovereign body of the Convention. The Meeting of States Parties gives strategic guidelines for the implementation of the Convention and takes all the measures it deems necessary to promote the objectives of the Convention.

Initially, the 1970 Convention did not create a periodic monitoring body. Only one meeting was organized in 2003 based on a specific decision of the Executive Board of UNESCO in 2002. The State Parties requested the Second Meeting of States Parties to be held in June 2012, in which they decided to give this body a periodicity of two years to enable them to follow the developments relating to the implementation of the Convention more closely. The Meeting of States Parties has therefore met every two years since 2012.

When necessary, so-called "extraordinary" meetings may be held in the interim at the request of the States Parties and the Director-General.

Eighth Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention (8.MSP)

The Eighth Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, will be held on 19 and 20 May 2025.

Simultaneous interpretation and working documents will be provided in the six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish).

These, as well as general information about the session, are available below.

Working documents

Election of the Bureau

C70/25/8.MSP/2 AR | | | | |

Adoption of the Agenda

Report on the activities of the Secretariat

C70/25/8.MSP/7 AR | | | | |

Examination of the draft Model Provisions on the Prevention and Fight Against the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property

C70/25/8.MSP/9 AR | | | | | ZH

Examination of the recommendations concerning public statements condemning the sale of an illicitly-traded cultural object from its country of origin pursuant to 40C/Resolution 42

C70/25/8.MSP/10 AR | | | | | ZH

Report on the results of the discussions on return and restitution held during the Seventh session of the Subsidiary Committee

C70/25/8.MSP/11 AR | | | | | ZH

Overall results framework for the 1970 Convention

C70/25/8.MSP/12 AR | | ES | FR | RU | ZH

Updates on activities undertaken to strengthen synergies between the 1970 Convention and other UNESCO Culture Conventions

C70/25/8.MSP/13 AR | | ES | FR | RU | ZH

Report on the use of the Fund of the 1970 Convention

C70/25/8.MSP/14 AR | | | | | ZH

Examination of proposed revisions to the Rules of Procedure of the Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention

C70/25/8.MSP/15 AR | | | | | ZH

Elections to the Subsidiary Committee of the Meeting of States Parties

C70/25/8.MSP/17 AR | | | | | ZH

Information documents

Provisional Timetable

C70/25/8.MSP/INF.3a |

List of documents

C70/25/8.MSP/INF.3b |

Report on the events on new forms of agreements and cooperation on the return and restitution of cultural property (Guatemala, Dec. 2024, Addis Ababa, Jan. 2025)

C70/25/8.MSP/INF.8 EN | FR

Draft Model Provisions on the Prevention and Fight Against the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property

C70/25/8.MSP/INF.9 | FR

Theory of Change and its associated Overall Results Framework

C70/25/8.MSP/INF.12 |

Proposed revisions to the Rules of Procedure of the Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention

C70/25/8.MSP/INF.15 |

Third Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention on the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property

According to Article 14.1 of its Rules of Procedure, the Meeting of States Parties is convened every two years. The Third Meeting will be organized from 18 to 20 May 2015 in Paris, at UNESCO Headquarters.
In addition to serving the renewal of half of the Members of the Subsidiary Committee (election of 9 new Members), the State Parties will be – among others – invited to discuss the possible adoption of the Draft Operational Guidelines which were approved by the Subsidiary Committee during its Second session from 30 June to 2 July 2014, the possible creation of a fund for the Convention as well as the recommendations proposed by the Office of Internal Oversight Service of UNESCO (IOS) in the ‘Evaluation Report on the 1970 Convention’ (IOS/EVS/PI/133REV.4) published in April 2014.

Furthermore, taking into consideration the ongoing situation in certain countries, such as in Iraq, Libya and Syria, and the devastating impact of looting and illicit trafficking of cultural property on our shared heritage, the States Parties to the 1970 Convention are strongly encouraged to inform the Meeting of States Parties on the actions undertaken for the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage at risk, particularly within the context of the United Security Council Resolution 2199 (15 February 2015).

Rules of procedure: EN | FR

Oral Report

Oral Report of the Rapporteur: EN/FR

Final documents

Resolutions (C70/15/3.MSP/RESOLUTIONS): EN | FR
Final Report (C70/15/3.MSP/Report): EN | FR

Working documents

Election of the Bureau (C70/15/3.MSP/2): | | | RU | AR | CH
Provisional Agenda (C70/15/3.MSP/3.REV): | | | RU | AR | CH
Report of the Subsidiary Committee (C70/15/3.MSP/5A): | | | RU | AR | CH
Roadmap for the fulfillment of the functions of the Subsidiary Committee (C70/15/3.MSP/5B): | | | RU | AR | CH
Report of the Secretariat (C70/15/3.MSP/6): | | | AR | RU | CH
Election of the Subsidiary Committee (C70/15/3.MSP/7): | | | RU | AR | CH
Follow-up to the recommendations of the Report on the Evaluation by the Internal Oversight Service of UNESCO’s Standard-setting Work of the Culture Sector (Part II) and strategic discussions (C70/15/3.MSP/8): | | | RU | AR | CH
Report on the Secretariat’s Emergency Actions (C70/15/3.MSP/9): | | | RU | AR | CH
Consideration of the possibility to create a Fund for the 1970 Convention (C70/15/3.MSP/10): | | | RU | AR | CH
Discussions on possible adoption of the draft Operational Guidelines: (C70/15/3.MSP/11): | | | RU | AR | CH

Information documents

Provisional Timetable (C70/15/3.MSP/INF.3A.REV): |
Provisional List of Documents (C70/15/3.MSP/INF.3B.REV): |

Second Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention

UNESCO Headquarters, Room II, Paris, France, 20-21 June 2012

The Meeting was tasked with examining in depth the impact of measures taken by States Parties to the Convention in order to optimize its implementation, appraise its effectiveness with particular regard to new trends in trafficking in cultural property, and formulate strategies geared primarily to improve its application. The States Parties and non-parties were supported in their consideration by the leading international experts in the relevant fields.

During this meeting the States Parties, inter alia, adopted Rules of Procedure whereby they established that the Meeting of States Parties shall be convened every two years. These Rules of Procedure also define the arrangements for the election of a Subsidiary Committee of 18 members (Article 14.4) which shall be convened by the Secretariat every year (Article 14.2). In addition, the Rules of Procedure specify the functions that shall be performed by the subsidiary committee once it has been elected, including, in particular, the preparation of guidelines contributing to the implementation of the Convention (Article 14.6).

Rules of Procedure: EN | FR

Chairperson, Vice-Chairs and Rapporteur

Chairperson: H.E. Mr D. Carlos de Icaza (Mexico)
Vice-Chairs: Cambodia, Egypt, Greece, Senegal
Rapporteur: Ms Henrietta Galambos (Hungary)

Oral Report

Oral Report of the Rapporteur: EN | FR

Final documents

Resolutions (C70/12/2.MSP/Resolutions): |
Final Report (C70/12/2.MSP/Report): |

Working documents

Election of the Bureau (C70/12/2.MSP/1): |
Provisional agenda (C70/12/2.MSP/2): |
Draft rules of procedure (C70/12/2.MSP/3): | | | | |
Final list of observers (C70/12/2.MSP/4): |
Report of the Secretariat (C70/12/2.MSP/5): | | | | |
Proposals concerning the follow-up on the implementation of the Convention (C70/12/2.MSP/6): | | | | |

Information documents

Provisional calendar (C70/12/2.MSP/INF.1): |
Proposals for strategies to improve the implementation of the 1970 Convention (C70/12/2.MSP/INF.2) : | | | | |
List of available documents (C70/12/2.MSP/INF.4):
Documents transmitted by the Permanent Delegation of Peru to UNESCO (doc.1 EN | FR, doc.2 EN | FR, doc.3 EN | FR, doc.4 EN | FR, doc.5 EN | FR)

Expert writings

L.V. Prott, Strengths and Weaknesses of the 1970 Convention: An Evaluation 40 years after its adoption, 2nd edition EN | FR | ES
L.V. Prott, Protection of archaeological objects under the 1970 UNESCO Convention EN | FR | ES
C. Bákula: Combating trafficking in cultural property - The 1970 Convention: Evaluation and prospects EN | FR | ES
M. Cornu: Implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention in Europe EN | FR
K. Farmer: Implementing the 1970 Convention: The Caribbean in Review EN | FR
R. Fraoua: Legislative and institutional measures to combat trafficking in cultural property in Arab States EN | FR
P. Gerstenblith: Expert Report for participants in the Second Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention EN | FR | ES
K.-G. Lee: An overview of the implementation of the 1970 Convention in Asia EN | FR
F. Shyllon: Implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention by African Sates: the failure to grasp the nettle EN | FR

Observers

All Member States and Associate Members of UNESCO not party to the 1970 Convention referred to in paragraphs 7 and 8 of Document ;
The organizations of the United Nations system referred to in paragraphs 9-11(a) of Document ;
The intergovernmental organizations referred to in paragraph 11(b) of Document ;
The international non-governmental organizations referred to in paragraph 11(c) of Document ;
The supplementary categories referred to in the annex to document , which may be proposed by States Parties until 15 May 2012.

91�鶹��Ʒ��