In 2013 several of the major international conventions for the protection of cultural property have witnessed a growth in the number of ratifications and acceptances.

The First and Second Protocols to the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict have been ratified by New Zealand (which ratified the main Convention in 2008; the UK still has not ratified the Convention despite governmental assurances that it would shortly do so). (For an article-by-article commentary on the Convention and its two Protocols, see War and Cultural Heritage by Kevin Chamberlain).

The 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage has now been ratified by France, Antigua and Barbuda, Togo and Belgium. (For an article-by-article commentary on the Convention, see Shipwrecked Heritage by Patrick O’Keefe – second edition out January 2014).

Rwanda, Micronesia, Finland, Nauru and Germany all ratified the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. (For an article-by-article commentary on the Convention, see Janet Blake’s Commentary).

Myanmar ratified the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. (For an article-by-article commentary on the Convention, see the Commentary by Patrick O’Keefe).

Honduras has ratified the 1995 Unidroit Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects. (For an article-by-article commentary on the Convention, see the Commentary by Lyndel Prott).