UNESCO marks 40 years of fighting illicit trafficking of cultural goods
Baku, March 15 (AZERTAC). Trafficking of cultural goods is among the main criminal activities in the world in financial terms together with the illicit trade in weapons and drugs, according to the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol). According to some sources it amounts to US$ 6 billion, but it is difficult to verify this figure, because of the illicit nature of this trade.
The plundering of archaeological sites, the illicit trafficking of religious objects, the unprecedented growth of the global art market, as well as crime linked to the circulation of cultural goods and to their sale for the financing of terrorist activities, are major concerns for the international community. Thus, several African countries have lost more than half their cultural heritage, which is today scattered in public and private collections outside the continent. Another example: since 1975, hundreds of Buddha statues from the temples of Cambodia have been forcibly removed, mutilated or decapitated. UNESCO estimates that this type of vandalism takes place at least once a day.
To meet these challenges, UNESCO adopted the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 40 years ago. Currently ratified by 120 States, it marked the first international recognition of the fact that cultural goods are not goods like any others.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Convention, UNESCO will organize a seminar in Paris on 15 and 16 March. Participants from all over the world will analyze the devastation wrought by trafficking, which is rife all around the world, assess measures currently implemented and propose ways to improve these at the international and States level. Besides representatives of Member States, participants will include representatives of the organizations involved in the fight against trafficking - INTERPOL, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT), the World Customs Organization, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) - and representatives of auction houses such as Sotheby`s and museums such the Musée du quai Branly in Paris and the National Museum of Mali.
The Convention focuses on three areas: it requires States Parties to adopt preventative measures at a national level (appropriate legislation, inventories, information campaigns, staff training, etc.); it includes provisions for restitution, according to which States are committed to taking appropriate measures to seize and return illegally imported cultural goods; it offers a framework of international cooperation, so as to fight trafficking more effectively.
UNESCO intends to take advantage of the 40th anniversary to review the history of the Convention, appraise its achievements, its strong points and its weaknesses.
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