Meeting of States Parties & Sessions

The Meeting of States Parties

The Meeting of States Parties is the sovereign body of the Convention. The Meeting of States Parties gives strategic guidelines for the implementation of the Convention and takes all the measures it deems necessary to promote the objectives of the Convention.

Initially, the 1970 Convention did not create a periodic monitoring body. Only one meeting was organized in 2003 based on a specific decision of the Executive Board of UNESCO in 2002. The State Parties requested the Second Meeting of States Parties to be held in June 2012, in which they decided to give this body a periodicity of two years to enable them to follow the developments relating to the implementation of the Convention more closely. The Meeting of States Parties has therefore met every two years since 2012.

When necessary, so-called "extraordinary" meetings may be held in the interim at the request of the States Parties and the Director-General.

The Seventh Meeting of States Parties will take place will take place on 30-31 May 2023.

Sessions of the Meetings of States Parties

• Seventh Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention (7.MSP)
• Sixth Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention (6.MSP)
• Fifth Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention (5.MSP)

• Fourth Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention (4.MSP)

• Third Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention (3.MSP)

• Extraordinary Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention

• Second Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention (2.MSP)

• 40th anniversary of the 1970 Convention

• First Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention (1.MSP)

Click here to find out more about the Sessions of the Subsidiary Committee
Click here to find out more about the Sessions of the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property (ICPRCP)