The professor and her team at the UNESCO Chair in International Relations currently pursue the following research projects:
Destruction of cultural property
In reaction to recent events, the examination of the destruction of cultural property in armed conflicts has become one of our main research interest. We concern ourselves with the current challenges by analysing UNESCO’s legal instruments, especially the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two protocols (1954 and 1999) as well as the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.
Firstly, is the monograph “Kulturgutzerstörung – Die Auslöschung von Kulturerbe in Krisenländern als Herausforderung für die Vereinten Nationen”, written by Prof. von Schorlemer, UNESCO Chair, and published by Nomos Verlag in 2016 (1025 pages). Further publications are concerned, amongst others, with the Responsibility to Protect ("The Usefulness of the 'Responsibility to Protect' as Applied to the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict", in: Cultural Heritage Law and Ethics: Mapping Recent Developments, edited by Art-Law Centre 2017, pp. 71-93) as well as the preservation of cultural heritage in Mali ("Military Intervention, the UN Security Council and the Role of UNESCO: The Case of Mali", in: Anne Marie Carstens, Elizabeth Varner (ed.), Intersections in International Cultural Heritage Law, Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2020).
Report on Tomorrow’s Science - Archaeological Cultural Heritage
In cooperation with experts of the German Archaeological Institute (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, DAI), the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (Stiftung Preußischer Kulturbesitz, SPK) and the German Commission for UNESCO, Prof. von Schorlemer co-authors the Archaeological Cultural Heritage Report on Tomorrow’s Science under the auspices of the German National Academy of Natural Sciences Leopoldina.
She examines the instruments and actions in international law, used by UNESCO, UNIDROIT, the United Nations Security Council, the Council of Europe, the EU and the International Criminal Court, especially in regards to the destruction of and illicit trade with archaeological cultural heritage – in water and on land – in Germany and worldwide.
Linking Cultural Heritage, Cultural Diversity and Sustainable Development ("nexus")
The implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, adopted in 2015, is one of the interdisciplinary topics of UNESCO. However, the role that culture plays is rather unprecise and fundamentally underestimated, although the SDGs refer directly and indirectly to culture at numerous points.
The UNESCO Chair aims to contribute towards research on the links between cultural heritage, cultural diversity and sustainable development ("nexus"). We do so by examining existing instruments in international law that apply to culture (esp. the 2001 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and the 1972 Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage).
Focus: the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
December 2015 saw the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These are meant to help bring worldwide economic growth with social equality and ecological sustainability into balance by 2030.
The UNESCO Chair in International Relations is intensely concerned with the requirements for a successful implementation of the SDGs. We focus our research on the role of culture and its legal implications in the implementation of the SDGs. As one of twelve UNESCO chairs in Germany and more than 700 internationally, we are committed to the idea of interdisciplinarity and cooperation across subjects and disciplines.
Current Publications: Sabine von Schorlemer, Sylvia Maus, Felix Schmermer (Hrsg.), UNESCO World Heritage and the SDGs - Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Sonderband 1 der Beiträge des UNESCO-Lehrstuhls zu Recht und Politik der UNESCO, 2020
Events
Workshop: Implementation of the SDGs – interdisciplinary perspectives (May 2018)
Interdisciplinary Workshop UNESCO World Heritage and the Sustainable Development Goals (Feb. 2019)
Movies meet SDGs: film series of the UNESCO Chair