ABSTRACT
Several non-binding standard-setting instruments adopted by States in the context of the General Conference of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizationembody norms relevant to States' putative customary obligations in respect of cultural heritage situated on their territory. The world's cultural heritage is the proper concern of the international community as a whole but it is not yet, in peacetime, the object of obligations owed to that community. Several months after the demolition of the Buddhas in March 2001, the General Assembly of the States Parties to the World Heritage Convention adopted a resolution on the protection of the cultural heritage of Afghanistan. The practical consequences of the distinction are, however, slight. As it is, the law of State responsibility is, in practice, an unlikely and ill-adapted mechanism for compelling a State to preserve cultural heritage situated on its territory.
