Presentation of the Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro, 2005)

Heritage in the broad sense
Cultural heritage is constantly being redefined by human activity and so cannot remain static. The defining goal of the Framework Convention is to broaden and decompartmentalise the concept of heritage. Cultural heritage is a group of resources inherited from the past which people regard, irrespective of who owns them, as a reflection and expression of their own constantly evolving values, beliefs, knowledge and traditions. It includes all aspects of the environment resulting from the interaction between people and places through time.

"Europe's common heritage" and "heritage communities"
The Framework Convention requires the parties to recognise Europe’s common heritage - the cultural heritage, which is both an asset and a source of collective memory, and a shared intellectual heritage based on universally accepted values deriving from Europe’s often troubled past and proposing a kind of "European ideal" when it comes to the organisation of society.

The concept of “heritage community”, introduced for the first time by the Framework Convention, is based on the recognition of a particular heritage and a commitment to promote it. A heritage community may result from a shared interest in a subject - an “archaeological community” for example - or have a geographical basis, be linked to a language or religion or stem from other humanist values. By definition, a heritage community will be transnational and multi-dimensional, making no reference to ethnic groups or other fixed communities.

The right to cultural heritage
The Convention’s approach is ground-breaking in that its starting point is not the object to be protected, i.e. heritage, but the people who benefit from it, namely all citizens, taken “alone or collectively”. This entails individual and collective responsibilities towards that heritage. The exercise of the right to heritage is guaranteed by the political commitments of states, but is also restricted where it conflicts with private interests. Cultural heritage is an asset which must be preserved because it is a potential source of personal and collective development.

Heritage’s contribution to society
The Convention is innovative because it gears heritage policies to the needs of society, human progress and quality of life. It advocates intercultural dialogue and debates about heritage − for example, where there is controversy about the interpretation of historic sites regarded as sacred by several religions. It calls for the sustainable use of heritage resources and heritage development for economic purposes, encouraging local inhabitants to feel an affinity with their region so as to attract tourism and new activities, while ensuring that economic use does not threaten the cultural heritage itself.

Shared responsibilities and public participation
The integrated approach to cultural heritage management should be taken to mean integration between different levels of public authorities (local, regional and national), including transfrontier co-operation, and also between different policy sectors and domains. The Convention recommends encouraging the public to become more involved in the heritage development process and emphasises the importance of public discussion in setting national priorities for cultural heritage and its sustainable use.

Heritage in a knowledge society
Broadening knowledge is another important focus of the Convention. There are self-evident links between cultural heritage and teaching of the arts, architecture, archaeology, civil engineering, environmental, social and political studies and spatial and economic planning, as well as links with the organisation of tourism and leisure. So heritage must be catered for in subjects where it may not be expected to appear such as languages and law. To improve access to heritage still further, the Convention requires the parties to make more widespread use of digital technologies (securing diversity of language in digital materials and a balance between free digital access and the proper payment of creators or owners of digital materials).

Monitoring the Convention and co-operation
The process of monitoring the Convention is closely linked with the co-operation activities to be established between the parties and is handled by an intergovernmental committee. Co-operation includes a shared system of publicly available information, exchanges of good practices and multilateral and transfrontier co-operation activities.

Complementarity with other international treaties
What makes the Convention unique is that it looks at heritage as a whole, dealing with its various physical and intangible aspects, in line with the chosen approach of a “right to heritage” which makes no distinction between the various components of heritage. It differs in this respect from the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003), which deals only with the intangible cultural heritage.

The Convention is concerned mainly with the values attached to heritage and attempts to establish criteria for the proper use of existing heritage assets. It also differs in this respect from the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (UNESCO, 2005), which aims to promote contemporary creativity, not heritage.