New legal responses to illicit art traffic

This thesis presents an overview of the legal actions taken to deal with the growing phenomenon of illicit traffic in art in times of peace.The first part evaluates the alarming situation of illicit art trade and reveals the underlying interests at stake in protecting cultural property.The second part examines the effects of governmental actions both at domestic and international levels, embodied respectively by Canadian and French import and export regulations, the 1970 UNESCO Convention and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention.The third part surveys the repressive and incentive-oriented alternative non-governmental action and emphasizes their major impact.This thesis contributes to the debate on the position of cultural heritage in the context of international trade. It advocates protection of cultural heritage by combining all legal approaches for more efficiency. It equally aims to highlight the need for effective protection of cultural heritage as the most valuable testimony of mankind's creativity and identity