Impediments to a human rights-based approach to heritage conservation: the case of Bagan, Myanmar

Abstract

The recognition of human rights at stake in and around World Heritage sites has led to an increased interest in the adoption of a human rights-based approach to heritage conservation. This approach is understood to address issues of social justice and enable a more sustainable form of heritage conservation. However, research at the historic and religious site Bagan in Myanmar shows various conceptual, practical and political hurdles that need to be addressed before this approach can effectively be adopted. Challenges can be found on local, national and regional scales and include the interpretation of cultural rights and conflicting rights, the contentiousness of human rights language and the lack of capacity to hold violators accountable. These impediments are relevant beyond Myanmar and demonstrate that the effectiveness of a human rights-based approach to heritage conservation is highly context-dependent.

Keywords:

• World Heritage
• human rights-based approach
• Myanmar
• human rights

Acknowledgements

I thank Tim Winter and Luke James for their feedback on drafts of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites), IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), and ICCROM (International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property).

2. In 1989 the military regime changed the name of the country from Burma to Myanmar and Pagan was changed to Bagan. I follow David Steinberg (Steinberg 2010) and use the terms Burma and Pagan when I refer to the country before 1989 and Myanmar and Bagan for the period after. ‘Burmese’ refers to all inhabitants and is also used for the language and as an adjective. I do not intend to make a political statement with this usage.

3. In 1996, Myanmar submitted a World Heritage nomination for Bagan. This nomination was referred (additional information was requested) because it was incomplete (Philp 2010, Pichard 2013). Around this time, Myanmar ceased engagement with most international organisations, including UNESCO, and never resubmitted a nomination of Bagan or any other site.

4. Some of the key instruments that recognise the importance of living, spiritual and religious aspects of heritage sites are the Nara Document on Authenticity (1994), the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001), the Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention (2003), the Yamato Declaration of Integrated Approaches for Safeguarding Tangible and Intangible Heritage (2004), the Convention on the Protection and Promotions of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005) and the Hoi An Protocols for Best Conservation Practice in Asia (2009).

5. Association of South East Asian Nations.