Month: February 2022

The AC Interviews Dr. Leslye Obiora on U.S., Nigeria’s Cultural Property Agreement

Posted on by Nora Malatinszky

On January 20, 2022, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Mary Beth Leonard and Nigeria’s Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed signed a bilateral cultural property agreement, committing both countries to combating the illicit trade. 

This agreement closes U.S. borders to illegally acquired or exported Nigerian antiquities. By partnering with the United States, the world’s largest art market, Nigeria’s cultural heritage will enjoy stronger protections, while at the same time, American consumers will also be protected from unknowingly buying stolen property. The partnership will ideally cut down the global demand for illicit cultural items from Nigeria  and return some already lost to their rightful home

The AC spoke with Dr. Leslye Obiora,  Professor of Law at the University of Arizona to learn more about the benefits of this agreement.

Can you give an overview of the recent Cultural Property Agreement between the United States and Nigeria, and explain why it is important?

The Cultural Property Agreement between the United States and Nigeria is intended to strengthen bilateral cooperation to advance shared interests and to accomplish the following main objectives:

  1. Facilitate robust collaboration between U.S. and Nigerian federal law enforcement and border control agencies to identify, intercept, repatriate, and protect cultural and heritage property. 
  2. Promote the exchange of archaeological materials for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes with the aim of increasing public awareness for Nigerian cultural heritage.

This agreement is a major milestone in global efforts and partnerships to preserve, restore, and protect diverse categories of cultural heritage from pillage and trafficking. The United States ratified the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. The US implements its obligations under this Convention through the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act (CPIA), 19 U.S.C. §§ 2601-2613. This legislation authorizes the President of the United States to enter into bilateral Cultural Property Agreements (CPA) with other State Parties to the 1970 UNESCO Convention. The CPA is administered by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs through the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC). In 2020, Nigeria requested a Memorandum of Understanding for import restrictions to protect its rich and diverse cultural property. The CPAC reviewed and recommended Nigeria’s request for approval. This process culminated in the recent adoption of the Cultural Property Agreement.

 

Nigeria has a rich cultural heritage. Can you give us some examples and explain why Nigerian cultural heritage needs protections like the CPA?

As the United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Mary Beth Leonard, observed cogently at the signing ceremony of the CPA, the rich tapestry of Nigeria’s cultural heritage is exemplified by the unique Nok terracotta dating back to the fifth century B.C. and the incomparable bronzes that once decorated the Royal Palace of the Kingdom of Benin. 

There are intrinsic, instrumental, and constructive values in protecting cultural and heritage property from illicit trade. The international human rights agenda protects the Nigerians’ right to culture, individually and collectively. Similarly, heritage property are a global public good. From an instrumental perspective, protecting and preserving cultural heritage through cultural property agreements promote stability, economic development, good governance, inter alia. Constitutively, the CPA contributes to enable environment and deepen opportunities for international learning, exchange, and cooperation. The global dialogue heightened by the continuing returns of the Benin Bronzes corroborate the enormous value of promoting cultural diplomacy and capture the growing grassroots conditions galvanizing the momentum for such dialogue in ways that compel State Parties to fulfill their treaty obligations. While the CPA is a major achievement, it is notable that it was signed more than half a century after the 1970 UNESCO Convention came into existence.

Live Expert Panel: Following Brexit, will the UK become a center of cultural racketeering?

Posted on by Helena Arose

Join us March 1, 2022 at 12:00 PM New York / 5:00 PM London for this Free Webinar

Despite international efforts to shine a spotlight on the deliberate destruction and looting of cultural property during conflict and the international community’s commitment to stopping the industrial trafficking believed to be contributing to the financing of terrorist groups such as Daesh, Al Qaeda and others, illicit trafficking continues in plain sight, seamlessly integrating with the legitimate antiquities market. 

While the EU has sought to address this problem by streamlining import rules and preventing import without proof of legal export from the country of origin, the UK has taken a seemingly opposite approach, quietly revoking the EU Regulation on the Introduction and the Import of Cultural Goods (EU 2019/880) in Great Britain, while adopting it in Northern Ireland. 

What was the UK’s reasoning behind the decision to repeal the regulation (and failure to replace it)? Will this repeal create a gateway to Europe for illicit cultural property through Northern Ireland, where the regulation still applies? And, how can the UK take advantage of this unique opportunity to adopt bespoke practices that fight cultural racketeering? 

Join us for a lively discussion of these questions and more with leading experts in the field of cultural property law, trade, and protection. Dialogue to be moderated by Alexander Herman, Director of the Institute of Art and Law.

The AC Interviews Ols Lafe, Albanian Cultural Heritage Specialist

Posted on by Nora Malatinszky

On August 23, 2021, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs Matthew Lussenhop and Albanian’s Minister of Culture Elva Margariti signed a bilateral cultural property agreement, committing both countries to combating the illicit trade. 

This agreement closes U.S. borders to illegally acquired or exported Albanian antiquities. Moreover, it will open new opportunities for responsible cultural exchange between the two nations, such as traveling exhibitions and museum loans.

For more insight into the benefits of this agreement, we spoke to Dr. Ols Lafe, Director of the Center for the Development of Ancient and Medieval Albanian Heritage (CDAMAH), a scientific research center based at the state university “Aleksandër Moisiu” in Durrës, Albania.

Can you give an overview of the recent Cultural Property Agreement between the United States and Albania, and explain why it is important?

The recently signed CPA between Albania and USA is of utmost importance regarding the ever increasing issue of illegal circulation of cultural objects from their original context. Albania, has already a negative record regarding the loss of objects and such agreements add value to the government objectives of protecting the heritage of the country. This agreement above all, enables US authorities to send back to Albania any items that may originate from Albania and ensure smooth coordination regarding such issues in the future. 

 

Albania has a rich cultural heritage. Can you give us some examples and explain why Albanian cultural heritage should be protected?

Albania’s rich heritage is well-known to researchers but not so much to visitors. From the UNESCO sites of Butrint, Gjirokastra, Berat and Ohrid Lake to the Illyrian, ancient Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian and Ottoman sites dotting the country’s landscape, Albania has a lot to offer to both academic research and cultural tourism. Nevertheless, the period which followed soon after the collapse of the communist regime, also brought irreparable damages to this heritage, with countless lost objects stolen from museums, as well as the beginning of the illegal excavations and subsequent loss of objects coming from these excavations. 

The phenomenon persists, and it’s even getting more intense in rural areas, with metal detectors widely used and in cases heavy digging machinery is involved. The Ministry of Culture is not able to cope with the phenomena, and the Albanian Police despite their willingness are able to trace only a few cases of wrongdoing and address them to the Prosecution Office. Many other cases go unnoticed due to the lack of territorial control, lack of equipment and training to tackle the phenomena. It is hoped that through such agreement the situation may improve given the fact that staff has to be trained to interact with requests originating from a partner country such as USA and be able to provide in a timely manner the respective needed information.   

 

CPAs help facilitate legal cultural exchange. Can you share some examples of US/Albania joint projects, excavations?

There are many common projects and excavations between Albania and US based research institutions. 

The first American research project in Albania was an investigation of Konispol Cave, co-directed by Karl Petruso (University of Texas, Arlington) and Muzafer Korkuti (Institute of Archaeology, Tirana). The first large-scale American project was the Mallakastër Regional Archaeological Project (MRAP) at the Greek colony of Apollonia, co-directed by Jack Davis (University of Cincinnati), Sharon Stocker (University of Cincinnati), Michael Galaty (University of Michigan), Muzafer Korkuti and Skender Muçaj (Institute of Archaeology, Tirana).

 Investigations at Dyrrachium-Epidamnus (an ancient Greek city in Illyria founded in the 7th century BC by colonists from Corinth and Corcyra) were co-directed by Davis and Stocker together with Iris Pojani and Afrim Hoti (Institute of Archaeology, Tirana). The Bonjaket Temple excavations, which emerged from MRAP, were codirected by Davis, Stocker, Pojani, and Vangjel Dimo. Michael Galaty also co-directed the Shala Valley project together with Ols Lafe (Institute of Archaeology, Tirana) and Zamir Trafilica (Historic Museum Shkoder). The Projekti Arkeologik i Shkodres, codirected by Michael Galaty (University of Michigan) and Lorenc Bejko (University of Tirana), aimed to curtail destruction and looting of burial mounds. Sarah Morris (UCLA), John Papadopoulos (UCLA), and Albanian colleagues have directed an excavation of the Lofkënd tumulus (an early Iron Age burial mound). 

 

How can people in the US learn more about Albania and Albanian cultural heritage?

It would be good to support on an annual basis the travel of Albanian experts to the US, especially to attend annual meetings of the Archaeological Institute of America, the Society of American Archaeology as well as supporting them to lecture in American universities with an interest in the Mediterranean and a focus in Albania. By making available the information for funding applications to Albanian experts, we as well are supporting them to come in touch with respective institutions may be one of the possible solutions to directly disseminating the reality of Albanian cultural heritage research at the heart of America’s leading researchers and programs.

Certainly there are instruments in place for longer periods of study and residence such as the Fulbright, but quicker methods such as described above may function better. Also, inviting US scholars to visit Albania, and decide if they want to engage in research here may be another way of getting to know the country and presenting it better abroad. 

 

Treasury: US Should Apply Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Laws to High Risk Actors in the American Art Market

Posted on by Helena Arose

Study Warns that the Trade and Its Participants Are Vulnerable to Criminal Misuse

The Antiquities Coalition welcomes a new study from the U.S. Department of Treasury calling for strengthened anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) measures for the multi-billion American art market.

While the report only looks at one segment of that broader market—fine art like paintings, drawings, and sculptures, and thus specifically excludes antiquities—it warns over 30 times variations of the well proven fact that such “high-value art and the market in which it is traded can be abused by illicit financial actors.” Featured examples span the globe from Russian oligarchs in Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, to international fugitive Jho Low, and one of Hezbollah’s top donors. The study also makes a number of recommendations to the Treasury Department for fighting back, including applying AML/CFT protections to additional at-risk art market participants. 

“As the Treasury Department has again confirmed, legal and regulatory loopholes are allowing our country’s enemies to launder millions, evade sanctions, and even finance terrorism through art,” said Deborah Lehr, Chairman and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition. “Ongoing revelations from the Pandora Papers further demonstrate how bad actors are exploiting these weaknesses, particularly through the misuse of offshore accounts, tax havens, and trusts. U.S. leadership is critical to tackling this threat to our national security, economic integrity, and responsible art market.”

The 35-page Treasury report was published on February 4, having been mandated by Congress in the AML Act of 2020. While antiquities are explicitly excluded from the scope, it does cite the Antiquities Coalition’s Financial Crimes Task Force Report, as well as reinforce many of the latter’s own findings and recommendations. These include calling on the U.S. government to: 

  • Work with the private sector to strengthen information sharing
  • Update guidance and training for law enforcement to include the unique risks and opportunities presented by the art market
  • Use FinCEN’s existing tools, such as targeted recordkeeping and reporting requirements, to better understand threats to the art market from financial crimes, and
  • Apply AML/CFT requirements to high-risk art market participants.

The American art market remains largely excluded from the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), the 1970 statute that still governs AML and CFT efforts in the United States. The 2020 AML Act was the first major update to the BSA in almost twenty years, and among many other things, added antiquities dealers to the list of individuals that must assist the U.S. government in preventing and detecting financial crimes. In addition to expected businesses like banks, the BSA had already applied to sellers of precious metals, stones, jewels, automobiles, planes, and boats, as well as to casinos, real estate professionals, travel agencies, and pawn shops.

The 2020 AML’s Act inclusion of antiquities dealers was just one small part of a wider legislative overhaul, that has left Treasury with enormous tasks before it in the months and even years ahead. Says John Byrne, Chair of the Antiquities Coalition’s Financial Crimes Task Force:

“While we are disappointed that the Treasury Department did not immediately move to put the art world under the Bank Secrecy Act, we obviously recognize that there are a myriad of challenges to address all of the methods through which illicit funds are moved and thus need to be prioritized. The fact that Treasury identified the abuse of art as a clear method to launder funds should be noted in the AML community.”

Read the FCTF Report here.