ICOMOS-UK held the conference on the theme ‘Embedding a Rights-Based Approach to Heritage Conservation’ on 25 April 2023.

This conference aimed to explore the characteristics of a rights-based approach and its application in the UK. This goes beyond World Heritage Site nominations to the daily management of World Heritage Sites, revealing the need for a shared history and heritage of our unique multicultural nation. It should also enhance the long-term sustainability of World Heritage Sites and the communities that inhabit and support them.

The speakers were:

Robert Bevan, the Mayor’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm

Clara Arokiasamy, President ICOMOS-UK

Professor Dan Hicks, Pitt Rivers Museum, Decolonising “world heritage” in the UK

Bénédicte Selfslagh, ICOMOS, A Rights-Based Approach for World Heritage Properties

Phil Foxwood, DCMS, State Party to the World Heritage Convention

Dr Paul Mullan, Director, The National Lottery Heritage Fund in Northern Ireland, Community involvement, inclusive heritage, and the Heritage Fund’s Heritage 2033 strategy

Professor Julia Aglionby, University of Cumbria, Farming Communities in the Lake District

Caitlin Osborne, TDR Heritage, By the People, for the People: Community Engagement and Participation in heritage conservation

Sir Geoffrey Palmer, Heriot-Watt University, Our History…Our Slavery

Dr Errol Francis, Culture&, Time, Space, and Empire

Jean-François Manicom, Museum of London Docklands, Roots are not built in stone