The UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects

International humanitarian law prohibits the theft, pillage, and misappropriation of cultural objects during both international and internal armed conflict. It also prohibits the illicit export of cultural property from a territory under belligerent occupation.When cultural objects enter the market in violation of these provisions, the resolution of restitution and return claims for stolen or illegally exported cultural objects may be governed by private international law rules set up by the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention and applicable among state parties.The text of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention makes no mention of armed conflict or belligerent occupation. Yet, it is an important legal tool for redressing violations of international humanitarian law norms for the protection of cultural objects during conflict and occupation.This entry on the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention provides a historical overview of the preceding treaties and international legal instruments concerning the protection of cultural property. It then examines the key common minimum rules—private international law provisions bridging different existing legal regimes—set out in the Convention, which facilitate the resolution of claims for the restitution or return of, respectively, stolen or illicitly exported cultural objects.It concludes by highlighting the ways in which the Convention could be used to address claims concerning cultural objects removed during situations of armed conflict or occupation. In this sense, the analysis will demonstrate the existing synergy between the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention and other humanitarian law treaties for the protection of cultural property, such as the 1954 Hague Convention and its two Protocols.