Anaïs Mattez on Indigenous Advocacy and the Compliance Mechanisms of the World Heritage Convention: a TWAIL Reading (International Journal of Cultural Property)

"Indigenous Advocacy and the Compliance Mechanisms of the World Heritage Convention: a TWAIL Reading"
Anaïs Mattez (PhD 2025)
International Journal of Cultural Property, First View, pp. 1 - 18
Published online: December 2024

Abstract: This article examines how Indigenous Peoples who depend on World Heritage sites for their culture and livelihood can appeal to the Committee when State Parties fail to comply with their obligations. While scholars criticize the World Heritage Convention for the lack of participation of Indigenous Peoples, particularly in the inscription and management processes, the framework of the Convention also allows representation and visibility. Indeed, compliance mechanisms offer opportunities for Indigenous advocates to negotiate Land sovereignty and environmental protection. TWAIL, which places the worldview of Indigenous Peoples at the center of legal practice, is crucial to understanding the interactions between Indigenous Peoples and the 1972 UNESCO Convention. TWAILers highlight how international law historically denies sovereignty rights to Indigenous Peoples. Article 6(1) echoes this absence of sovereignty. This article examines three cases in which Indigenous advocates petition to protect Native Lands against environmental degradations and colonization: Kakadu, Wood Buffalo, and Uluru. Ultimately, the challenges of Indigenous activists in their quest to preserve nature and culture reveal that the absence of sovereignty prerogatives remains a substantial issue. While the Convention provides a venue for advocacy and international awareness, Indigenous Peoples still must negotiate Land autonomy and cultural sovereignty with the State.

Kelley Loper on Dignity as a Constitutional Value in Hong Kong: Toward a Contextual Approach? (new book chapter)

"Dignity as a Constitutional Value in Hong Kong:
Toward a Contextual Approach?"

Kelley Loper
in  Human Dignity in Asia: Dialogue between Law and Culture, 
edited by Jimmy Chia-Shin Hsu (Cambridge University Press, 2022),
Chapter Seven, pp. 160-186

Introduction: This chapter considers the development of “dignity” as a constitutional value in Hong Kong, a special administrative region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Hong Kong has maintained a separate legal system since its reversion to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 after more than 150 years as a British colony. The 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration promised Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy in all areas except foreign affairs and defence. The Basic Law, Hong Kong’s constitutional document, sets out the terms of this “One Country, Two Systems” arrangement, including guarantees of fundamental rights. In particular, it provides for the continuing application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The PRC has not ratified the ICCPR, so its place in Hong Kong’s regional constitutional framework is a key feature of the SAR’s autonomy. The ICCPR has also been directly incorporated in the Bill of Rights Ordinance (BOR), a statute which has achieved constitutional status. While dignity is not mentioned in the Basic Law, these international standards have supported the judiciary’s use of dignity as a core value that underpins constitutional rights and informs a purposive approach to their interpretation. 

Shahla Ali on Cultural Issues in International Arbitration (updated book chapter)

"Cultural Issues in International Arbitration"

Shaha Ali

in International Arbitration Practice : 21st Century Perspectives, (LexisNexis), Vol 3. Ch. 6. (2013; 2020)

Abstract: This paper addresses the theme of cultural convergence and divergence in international arbitration practice. Applying theoretical insights to unique arbitral practices in Hong Kong and Mainland China, the chapter draws on the authors survey and field work in the region. Examining both the convergence and divergence of approaches to arbitration in diverse settings provides an avenue to understanding the impact of globalization on the international practice of law.

Marco Wan Examines Hong Kong Identity in Insanity, a Film by David Lee (Law, Culture & Humanities)

"Dissent, Cultural Schizophrenia and Hong Kong Identity in David Lee’s Insanity"
Marco Wan

Law, Culture and the Humanities
April 2017, published online

Abstract: How does film capture the zeitgeist of a time of cultural and political conflict? This article investigates the relationship between Hong Kong cinema, identity and dissent in David Lee’s Insanity (2015). Drawing on the notion of cultural schizophrenia as posited by Frederic Jameson and reworked by a number of Hong Kong scholars, it argues that Lee’s film about clinical schizophrenia can be interpreted as a representation of the cultural schizophrenia characteristic of Hong Kong identity at the current time.