Our mandate
ICLAFI’s aim is to research and promote the understanding, identification, international cooperation, and comparative study of legal, administrative and financial issues in connection with the protection, maintenance, conservation and management of cultural heritage. It seeks to achieve this aim through various means, including the following:
- Assisting the World Heritage Panel to assess legal issues relating to management and protection of potential World Heritage Sites.
- Engaging in comparative research on legal, administrative and financial issues relating to cultural heritage, and sharing the results through annual symposia.
- Providing input to ICOMOS national committees on legal, administrative and financial issues relating to cultural heritage, often with feedback from ICLAFI members around the world.
History
ICLAFI was formed on 18 April 1997 by nine founder members representing nine countries. They are Werner Trützschler (Germany), Wojciech Kowalski (Poland), Toshiyuki Kono (Japan), Gideon Koren (Israel), Marc Denhez (Canada), Roberto Nuñez Arratia (Mexico), María Rosa Suárez-Inclán Ducassi and Luis Anguita Villanueva (Spain), and Thomas Adlercreutz (Sweden).
ICLAFI By-laws
as of 2020
The ICLAFI Bureau 2024–2027
The Bureau leads and guides the work of ICLAFI, ensures good governance, and represents ICLAFI within ICOMOS and outside the organization while acting in the best interests of, and maintaining regular contact with, its membership.
Mona O'ROURKE
President
Mona is a conservation and heritage management consultant, with professional experience in policy review, documentation, conservation, and management of cultural heritage. She lectures on World Heritage matters, and on national and international legislative protection for the historic built environment. She represents ICOMOS Ireland on the World Heritage Technical Advisory Group established by Ireland’s World Heritage Unit, and was a member of the consulting team who prepared the World Heritage Strategy for Ireland launched in July 2025. She was engaged to establish the Brú na Bóinne World Heritage Community Forum and continues to facilitate the work of the forum. She has a special interest in the establishment of processes for stakeholder and community engagement in heritage management, and in the identification and implementation of conflict resolution mechanisms as well as the integration of rights based approaches to management of heritage.
Matleena HAAPALA
Vice President
Matleena has been a member of ICOMOS Finland since 2009 and an expert member of ICLAFI since 2016. She has a Master of Laws degree from the University of Turku and was trained on the bench. She also has a Master’s degree in Philology from the University of Jyvaskyla. Matleena was legal advisor at the Finnish Heritage Agency 2008–2015, and has worked at the Ministry of the Environment in Finland since 2015.
Jack Tsen-Ta LEE
Vice President
Jack has been a member of ICOMOS Singapore and an ICLAFI expert member since 2016. He has a Master of Laws from University College London, and a Doctorate in Law from the Birmingham Law School, UK, is called to the bar in Singapore, and is qualified as a solicitor in England and Wales. He has taught art and cultural property law, constitutional and administrative law, and media law at universities in Singapore. He served as the President of the Singapore Heritage Society from 2017 to 2023.
Tomás VACCARO
Vice President
A lawyer specializing in the legal protection of cultural heritage and intellectual property, Tomás serves as Legal Advisor to ICOMOS Argentina and the Strategic Planning Council of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. He is also a specialist consultant to the Undersecretary of Cultural Heritage of Argentina. He serves as an ICOMOS evaluator for potential World Heritage sites and has lectured on cultural heritage at various universities in Argentina.
Yasemin Sarıkaya LEVENT
Secretary General
Yasemin is an urban planner. She has been a member of ICOMOS Turkey since 2017 and ICLAFI since 2018. She has Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in City and Regional Planning, and obtained a PhD on planning problems of archaeological sites in Turkey from the Middle East Technical University in 2008. She has been working as an assistant professor at the Department of City and Regional Planning of Mersin University since 2009. Her main interests are urban conservation, cultural heritage management, and legal and organizational frameworks of conservation. She is a member of Turkish Union of Chamber of City Planners since 2009, and has been ICLAFI’s representative on the ICOMOS Sustainable Development Goals Working Group since 2021, and the Our Common Dignity – Rights-Based Approaches Working Group since 2023.
Joining ICLAFI
ICOMOS members who are interested to join ICLAFI may write to us with a letter introducing themselves, indicating if they are applying for expert or associate membership, and enclosing a curriculum vitae setting out their relevant qualifications. They should keep their national committee informed about their application.
Alternatively, they may arrange for their national committee to nominate them for ICLAFI membership and to provide ICLAFI with the necessary information.
Applications are considered during the ICLAFI Bureau’s regular meetings.
The image at the top shows monumental statues from a tomb-sanctuary dating to the first century B.C.E. built by King Antiochus I of Commagene on the top of Mount Nemrut in southeastern Turkey. Photograph by Dr. Jack Tsen-Ta Lee.