Shahat, Libya, 17-26 November 2013

The ten-day training workshop on the protection of cultural sites and museums to prevent and fight against the illicit trafficking of Libyan cultural property was held in the World Heritage Site of Cyrene (Shahat). It constituted a follow-up to the Introductory workshop on prevention and fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property organized in Tripoli in April 2013, and the training session held at the Sabratha World Heritage Site in September 2013.

The training workshop brought together staff from police departments (tourist police, border security and criminal department), customs, university and civil society organizations from all over the Libyan regions of Cyrenaica and Fezzan, with a view to enforcing an efficient protection system in the country and establishing a specialized Libyan police force dedicated to protecting the country’s cultural heritage. In addition, public prosecutors, judges, representatives from INTERPOL’s National Centre Bureau in Libya and the Property Registration Office in Shahat also participated in the debates. A number of international and Libyan archaeologists, university researchers and experts from the French Customs as well as UNSMIL Police and Border Security advisory units participated in the training as key partners.

The participants agreed on a set of recommendations, paving the way to setting up a national strategic framework for effectively preventing and fighting illicit trafficking of cultural property in Libya, and form an urgent plan of security measures to enforce the protection of the World Heritage Site of Cyrene (Shahat).

This training workshop was co-organized by UNESCO and the Department of Antiquities of Libya, part of the Ministry of Culture, with the support of the Local Council of Shahat, and falls within a broader capacity building programme funded by the Italian Government.