International Law and Human Rights Journal
Spring 2026 Symposium

Law, Heritage, and Identity: International Legal Frameworks for Cultural Preservation
March 27, 2026

View the agenda and register to attend here.

This symposium brings together scholars, practitioners, and students to explore how cultural heritage shapes identity and belonging, and how law can protect the objects, places, and traditions through which communities represent themselves.

Speakers will consider how legal frameworks respond to looting and illicit markets, disputes over provenance and restitution on land and at sea, and the challenges of protecting intangible types of cultural heritage. The keynote, “Combatting the Global Trade in Looted Antiquities,” highlights how these issues play out in practice and what effective accountability can look like.

Panelists will explore a set of urgent questions: When do existing rules deter harm, and when do they simply manage it after the fact? Who has authority to speak for heritage, and what does meaningful protection require from states, institutions, and the international community? Attendees will leave with a clearer sense of where the law is working, where it is falling short, and what reforms could better support cultural preservation in an era of intensified conflict, commerce, and environmental change.