Legal Framework for the Protection of the Immovable Cultural Heritage in Africa
The 3rd Regional Thematic Seminar for Africa 2009 on Legal Frameworks for the Protection of Immovable Cultural Heritage was organized by the National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe and AFRICA 2009. The seminar was held in Mutare, Zimbabwe from 21-25 October 2002, bringing together 22 professionals from Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa to discuss this important topic. The countries represented were Botswana, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Mauritius, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Uganda,
Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The theme of Legal Frameworks is that promoting and protecting cultural heritage is a very crucial issue in most of Africa since most of the legislations in current use on the continent were promulgated during the colonial times. These antiquated legal instruments are often inadequate to meet the new concepts, definitions and needs of heritage in contemporary African societies. Many countries have therefore begun to reverse their legal instruments with a view to making them more relevant to present day situations. The 3rd Regional Thematic Seminar of Africa 2009 was planned to discuss issues related to exploring the implications of the current legal frameworks for the protection and management of immovable heritage in sub-Saharan Africa. The workshop also shared ideas and explored ways of improving the way the immovable heritage is protected.
The seminar focused on:
• evaluating the current state of legal frameworks for immovable heritage conservation;
• identifying the key issues related to heritage legislation and possible strategies for dealing with them;
• identifying key issues related to the link between formal and informal legislation;
• developing linkages to support the development of best practice in legal frameworks related to the protection of the immovable heritage legislation.
This compilation brings together the papers presented at this seminar. The presentation of formal papers was then followed by group discussions, which were then crystallised as the seminar recommendations.