Caribbean museums strengthen their capacities with the support of UNESCO in the fight against illegal trafficking of cultural properties

In the last decades, the illegal trafficking of cultural property has grown to epidemic proportions, already comparable to those of the international illicit trafficking of drugs or weapons. Caribbean countries face illicit trafficking in pre-Columbian, religious and colonial cultural heritage, as well as the illicit trading of underwater cultural heritage from shipwrecks and other submerged structures.
UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean in Havana, in collaboration with UNESCO Cluster Office for the Caribbean in Kingston, have organized the Virtual Seminar “Strengthening the capacities of museum staff in the Caribbean countries for the management of collections with a focus on risk management and the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property”. 
The initiative is part of the project “Improving regional cooperation in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property in Latin America and the Caribbean”, jointly launched by both Offices with the objective of strengthening the capacities museum staff to ensure proper management, conservation and preservation of their collections, and to improve their response to possible natural and human threats.