On 15 May 2020, UNESCO held an online meeting with key partners in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property in times of COVID-19 to share experiences and reinforce joint actions.
UNESCO Assistant Director-General for Culture, Mr Ernesto Ottone R., chaired the meeting in the presence of both the Chairperson of the Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention Against Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property, H.E. Mr Irénée Bienvenu Zevounou (Benin), and the Chairperson of its Subsidiary Committee, Mr Wael Abdelwahab (Egypt), as well as representatives of the World Customs Organization (WCO), INTERPOL, and the International Council of Museums (ICOM).
Participants noted that the lockdown has weakened surveillance mechanisms for museums and archaeological sites and appears to have led to an increase in illegal excavations and trafficking activities including those online. Several recent trafficking cases suggest that the sanitary crisis and lockdown have shifted priorities away from cultural property protection, as available staff for security at institutions and sites, border controls, and for tracking of unlawful online commerce have been reduced. Similar concerns were raised by Ministers in the online Ministers of Culture meeting convened by UNESCO on 22 April last. Thus, the importance of international cooperation and UNESCO’s role in promoting and supporting the 1970 Convention’s implementation in the Member States was stressed.
Participants recalled the key role of national authorities and their capacity to implement the provisions of the 1970 Convention within their respective territories. In times of crisis and shifting priorities, robust national entities that can focus on tracking illicit trade of cultural property are even more relevant. In this regard, the participants considered it critical that the Operational Guidelines of the 1970 Convention be revised and strengthened, so as to better support the implementation of provisions of the Convention’s Article 5 on national services and Article 10 on education and awareness raising, especially in transit and market countries and in view of tackling online trade. The meeting underlined that use of the Model Export Certificate for Cultural Goods has demonstrated its effectiveness in daily operations.
Interventions highlighted several initiatives undertaken in response to the COVID-19 situation, such as the joint ICOM-INTERPOL Recommendations on ensuring cultural heritage security during lockdown, the ongoing ICOM-UNESCO online survey on the situation of museums in lockdown, and UNESCO’s capacity-development activities in Africa, transformed into online trainings and carried out in cooperation with INTERPOL and WCO.
Going forward, participants agreed to develop more online material on countering illicit trafficking of cultural property, and welcomed the initiative to create a web-based documentation platform in the context of UNESCO’s ongoing EU-funded project “Inter-regional and crosscutting action aiming to strengthen the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property”. Finally, the partners also agreed to continue directing joint efforts towards online trainings and awareness-raising to further strengthen the 1970 Convention’s implementation.
Concluding the meeting, the Mr Ottone R. highlighted UNESCO’s advocacy for the 1970 Convention particularly in this year of celebrating its 50th anniversary, in close cooperation with key partners.
For more information see:
https://en.unesco.org/fighttrafficking/1970
https://en.unesco.org/fighttrafficking/partners
https://en.unesco.org/fightillicittrafficking/tools
https://en.unesco.org/news/more-130-ministers-call-support-culture-sector-covid-19-crisis-response-2