OPINION/COMMENTARY


World Heritage Areas: A Critical Analysis

Our nation's most valued landmarks remind us of the liberty, strength, and justice of America at its best. Yet, unfortunately, politics - international politics, to be exact - is making use of long-standing national landmarks we think of as distinctly and unambiguously American: The Statue of Liberty, the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone National Park, to name a few. Since 1972, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) - the cultural arm of the U.N. - has designated 22 sites in the U.S. and some 788 sites worldwide as cultural or natural sites of "world heritage."1 UNESCO describes these extraordinary buildings, monuments, and natural parks as being of "outstanding value to humanity,"2 and their preservation, therefore, a matter of global concern. Administered from its headquarters in Paris, UNESCO enforces international protection of World Heritage sites under the terms of the 1972 World Heritage Treaty, 3 which the U.S. was the first nation to ratify in 1973.4 When a site is designated a "World Heritage Site," it does not become the property of the U.N. Indeed, ceding formal authority of U.S. territory to an outside power would violate long-established principles of national sovereignty. The government of the country hosting the site has legal authority and is, ultimately, responsible for its care.5 The House of Representatives approved the American Land Sovereignty Protection Act in 1999. The measure required congressional approval before any more U.S. properties are designated as U.N. World Heritage Areas. The Senate failed to even vote on the bill.20 Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist could rectify this injustice, and should be encouraged to do so, though the House would be required to vote again before the measure would be presented to the President. An alternative to adoption of a renewed American Land Sovereignty Protection Act could be a concurrent resolution expressed by Congress reminding the U.N. of Article 6, Paragraph 1 of the World Heritage Treaty. This passage affirms that the sovereignty of the state on which a World Heritage site is situated will be respected.21 The last Congress failed to act on such a resolution (introduced by Rep. Ron Paul of Texas), which also called for Congress to again withdraw the U.S. from UNESCO.22 Congress should act to make it clear to the U.N. that the authority to manage U.S. lands rests exclusively with the American people....