Hellenic Society for Law and Archaeology - Ελληνική Εταιρία Δικαίου Αρχαιοτήτων

"The creation of the Hellenic Society for Law and Archaeology (HSLA) is a necessary response to the rapid evolution and growing complexity of cultural heritage law. Promoting and safeguarding cultural heritage is increasingly becoming one of the more important issues in the national and international political agenda. Governments and international organizations agree on the fundamental importance of the protection of cultural heritage and increasing public awareness within society. However, such aspirations are often found to be in conflict with other social and economic priorities making cultural heritage law, and antiquity law in particular, one of the most complex “legal arenas”. This complexity of laws and the lack of proper accesses to information creates an ambiguity for the people and institutions involved with archaeology and thus hindering progress and leading to delays in the development of new policies.Archaeological heritage protection is currently served by the utilization of aspects of a diverse range of legal fields which, when applied in practice, address neither the concerns of the multiple stakeholders, nor the objectives of protection. HSLA believes that a satisfactory level of archaeological heritage protection will only be achievable through a holistic approach to the development of the relevant legal frameworks under the umbrella of law and archaeology. To this end the close collaboration of lawyers, archaeologists, museums specialists, as well as representatives from local government and private sector is a key element of its success..."