Netherlands 1.4.2

The Netherlands participates in multilateral cultural relationships through its membership of, for example, the Council of Europe and the United Nations (UNESCO). The public funds for culture offer subsidies for trans-national exchange and many cultural institutions participate in international networks.

The Netherlands is also part of the trans-national organisation the Dutch Language Union (see chapters 2.5.4 and 4.1.8)

Council of Europe

The Netherlands has been an active member of the Council of Europe since 1949, as one of its ten founding countries. The Netherlands ratified the European Cultural Convention, and as a result takes part in projects like the Heritage Open Days and the Cultural Routes. The Netherlands has ratified the Granada Convention for the Protection of the Architectural Heritage of Europe, the Valletta Convention on the Protection of the Archaeological Heritage, the Florence Convention on European Landscape and the Faro Convention on the Value for Cultural Heritage for Society.

Since the start of the programme in 1988, the Netherlands participates in Eurimages, the Council of Europe Fund for the co-production, distribution and exhibition of European cinematographic works. The Netherlands also participates in the European Audiovisual Observatory. The observatory’s task is to improve the transfer of, and access to, information on the four areas of film, television, video/DVD and new media.

European Union

The Netherlands currently takes part in the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union (2021-2027. The Dutch Creative Europe Desk, part of DutchCulture, is responsible for promoting and facilitating participation in Creative Europe. It offers advice for organisations that want to apply for the programme. The Netherlands took a leading role in developing new programmes within the Creative Europe scheme, like Music Moves Europe. Leeuwarden (Friesland) was the most recent Cultural Capital of Europe in 2018.

UNESCO

The Dutch National Commission for UNESCO was established in 1947 and is part of a worldwide network of nearly 200 commissions. Its primary objective is to raise awareness about the mission of UNESCO and to advise the Dutch government. In 1954 The Netherlands adopted the UNESCO Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. The Netherlands played an important part in the establishment of this convention. From 1992 on other conventions followed (see table 2).

The Netherlands has thirteen natural and cultural sites on the World Heritage List (World Heritage Treaty (1972). The Eisinga Planetarium in Franeker is the most recent site, added in 2023.

The Information and Heritage Inspectorate co-operates with both customs and police to fight illicit traffic in cultural goods (based on the Convention on the Prohibiting of the Illegal Trafic of Cultural Property). With regards to stolen cultural goods, the Dutch police works with the Interpol network.

The Dutch Centre for Intangible Cultural Heritage (Kenniscentrum Immaterieel Erfgoed Nederland), coordinates the national inventory of the Dutch intangible heritage (based on the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage) The most recent Dutch inscription on the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity was the Traditional Grassland Irrigation (2023).

In 2005, UNESCO introduced the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, and was ratified by the Netherlands in 2010. The Netherlands currently has 16 registrations in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, for example the The Diary of Anne Frank, and the VOC/WIC archives.

Table 2: International legal instruments implemented by the Netherlands in the cultural field