ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with an exploration of the contested notions of universal values and sets international developments in the context of postcolonial and cultural colonial debates. It examines how international heritage organizations, including International Council of Museum (ICOM), International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), International Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works (IIC) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), approach values and ethics. The chapter considers other regional and inter-governmental organizations' impact on cultural heritage from the economic domain, the bearing that the deliberations of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) might have on cultural expression found in the commercial practices of traditional knowledge, sometimes referred to as folk knowledge or tribal knowledge.
