As many communities and countries confront the challenges of climate change and conflict today, and those of the past, our meeting is an important and timely opportunity to reflect on the place of cultural heritage in human rights discourse—and the place of human rights in the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage. Both relationships have often been overlooked or minimized to the detriment of those communities and countries and their peoples. In examining these dynamics, this chapter is divided into three parts. The first provides a broad-brushed and short introduction to these central concerns, namely the significance of fostering a ‘culture’ of human rights in contemporary societies particularly those in transition (whether this be post-conflict, post-disaster, or confronting periods of repression), and related to this, the centrality of culture and cultural diversity to these efforts. The second part elaborates upon this latter point—by tracing and elaborating upon the complex and fraught history of the development of cultural rights in international law as it is informed by regional and national concerns (often following armed conflicts—international or internal). I will explain how these developments in respect of cultural rights run parallel to, and not always in conjunction with, efforts to legally protect cultural heritage at the international level. The third and final part centres on the place of culture and cultural heritage in addressing gross and systematic violations of human rights norms and international humanitarian law obligations. That is, their function in reparations for the harm arising from such these violations and facilitating efforts fostering recognition, reconciliation, and renewal.