Dignity of the heritage and the heritage communities (original) (raw)

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons why the human rights-based approach should be used in the preservation of cultural heritage.Design/methodology/approachThe article is a combination of an essay and illustrative case studies. The thesis is based on experience in heritage protection on national and international level and the discussions of the “Heritage and Human Rights” training in Estonia 1.-6.05.2019.FindingsCultural heritage is the common good regardless of its ownership. The protection of something, especially in living environments, includes compromises in the rights of one or another counterpart. Restrictions are often ground for conflicts that can be settled with good communication, but sometimes just communication is not enough. In these cases, human rights-based approaches enable to identify the problems, scale the rights of different stakeholders and thus enable discussion to reach consensus.Practical implicationsThe research is useful for heritage...