![Fight Illicit Trafficking](/web/20240402104534im_/https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/styles/banner_mobile/public/2021-09/illicit_trafficking_cultural_property.jpg?itok=V9eTWgW8)
UNESCO
UNESCO
Fight Illicit Trafficking (1970 Convention)
Theft, looting and illicit trafficking of cultural property is a crime. It deprives people of their history and culture, it weakens social cohesion in the long term. It fuels organized crime and contributes to the financing of terrorism.
UNESCO works to provide a clear and strong response to stem this scourge.
Since its founding, UNESCO has been developing benchmark legal instruments, including the 1970 Convention - the culmination of a long process of reflection on the fight against the illicit traffic of cultural property. It is a collective duty to act against the illicit trafficking of cultural property and to protect cultural heritage.
Key Numbers
Art Knows no frontiers Neither does organized crime
![convention-1970-International campaign-inca ceramic jug,Peru](/web/20240402104534im_/https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/styles/paragraph_parallax_mobile/public/2022-03/mag_unesco_vessel-2_sa_uk_e1_hd_0.png.jpg?itok=sjYZVya2)
Event
Publications
Countering illicit trafficking of cultural objects in South-East Asia: capacity-building guide and methodologies
2019
UNESCO
![0000372955](/web/20240402104534im_/https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/styles/document_block_mobile/public/unesdoc_medias/0000372955.png.jpg?itok=bKDv766d)
50 years of the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural goods
Octobre - décembre 2020
UNESCO
![0000374570](/web/20240402104534im_/https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/styles/document_block_mobile/public/unesdoc_medias/0000374570.png.jpg?itok=DIEv7S-f)
Witnesses to history: a compendium of documents and writings on the return of cultural objects
2009
UNESCO
![0000185386](/web/20240402104534im_/https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/styles/document_block_mobile/public/unesdoc_medias/0000185386.png.jpg?itok=UJKpa0IC)
Fighting the illicit trafficking of cultural property: a toolkit for European judiciary and law enforcement
2023
UNESCO
![0000266098](/web/20240402104534im_/https://www.unesco.org/sites/default/files/styles/document_block_mobile/public/unesdoc_medias/0000266098.png.jpg?itok=NZToG1JX)