Author: Helena Arose

Last Week Tonight Tackles Cultural Racketeering with Cameo from the Antiquities Coalition

Posted on by Helena Arose

The global issue of cultural racketeering is becoming increasingly well known among the general public as stories of looted antiquities continue to make national headlines. Some of the world’s most prestigious museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Louvre Museum in Paris, have been caught up in a flurry of scandals for collecting and displaying stolen art within their walls.

Last Week Tonight host John Oliver tackled the issue during the show’s October 2 episode, detailing examples of museums and collectors participating in this illicit trade and why it continues to thrive today. He explores the history of the British Museum and emphasizes that most museums only display a tiny fraction of their full collections. In the case of the British Museum, they publicly display 80,000 of their 8 million objects, which accounts for just 1%.

Oliver also introduced provenance research and highlighted an example of Sotheby’s auction house ignoring warning signs of a looted Cambodian antiquity, featuring a cameo from Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition. 

Davis provided insights on the incident and Sotheby’s final decision to display the antiquity on the cover of one of its most popular publications: 

“Three years ago, Cambodia learned that Sotheby’s auction house in Manhattan was attempting to sell a thousand-year-old masterpiece for $3 million, the feet of which were still at the temple in Cambodia,” said Davis. “Sotheby’s was warned by the very expert they hired to appraise the statue that it was ‘definitely stolen.’ They knew the feet were still there. Despite what their expert told them, they decided to put the statue on the front of one of their more prominent auction catalogs of the year.“

Oliver notes that it is not uncommon to see statues without hands or feet, and while many may assume it comes from damage over time, it is often a sign that the statue is stolen. A 2017 op-ed, authored by the Antiquities Coalition, was also quoted to emphasize that cultural racketeering is not a white-collar, victimless crime. The illicit trade of art and antiquities has funded some of the world’s worst actors, from the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

The episode wrapped up with a skit featuring comedian Kumail Nanjiani, who takes viewers through the Payback Museum, the first museum in the world dedicated to providing recourse to nations plundered of their greatest treasures throughout history. The skit showcases the looting of Western masterpieces such as Stonehenge and the Liberty Bell to drive home the disconnect other countries experience when significant pieces of history are missing and curators have no desire to return them to their rightful owners. Make sure to follow the Payback Museum on Twitter.

The Antiquities Coalition thanks John Oliver and the team at Last Week Tonight for using their platform to raise awareness of cultural racketeering and why we must combat looting. Watch the full segment here.

 

ASEAN Advances Regional Initiative to Combat the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property

Posted on by Helena Arose

Following High Level Convening with the Antiquities Coalition, the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts of the Kingdom of Cambodia Announces Continued Action for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

Siem Reap, October 5—The Kingdom of Cambodia, with support from the Antiquities Coalition, has released an ambitious roadmap for tackling the illicit trade in cultural property across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Priorities include increased information sharing, strengthened cross-sectoral coordination, and a long-term strategy to address the root causes of the problem. These recommendations were developed during an emergency international conference, which was held from September 5-8 in Cambodia, this year’s ASEAN Chair. 

The Antiquities Coalition, a nongovernmental organization based in the United States, joined the Kingdom’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in recruiting high-level experts to share global best practices during the event. “The Prevention of the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Properties: An ASEAN Perspective” convened ASEAN Member States, key partner countries, law enforcement, museums, and private sector representatives in Siem Reap, gateway to the temples of Angkor. This four-day program included an international plenum open to the public and press, closed-door meetings of ASEAN Member States to strengthen collaboration at the working level, and expert panels and site visits to share lessons. 

“The theft and illicit trafficking of cultural property is an international criminal activity” and “major multilateral challenge that has to be addressed by all ASEAN countries,” said His Excellency Prak Sokhonn, Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, who opened last month’s conference. “My government is committed to putting a stop to the trafficking of our antiquities and we will work together with like-minded ASEAN governments, international organizations, and private sector partners to bring this to an end. We need to commit and to continue our fight to protect the soul of our cultural heritage and prevent the priceless antiquities from being further plundered, looted, and spirited away from the country.”

As the 2022 ASEAN Chair, Cambodia is using its platform to unite the region in the fight against the looting and trafficking of cultural heritage—a transnational crime that is threatening Southeast Asia’s rich heritage, local communities, and national economies. In addition to the September conference and today’s roadmap, this includes other concrete steps in the lead up to the ASEAN Summit this November in Phnom Penh. 

“As Southeast Asia’s lead political and economic forum, ASEAN is in a unique position to make a difference,” said Deborah Lehr, Chairman and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition. “We are thus grateful to the Kingdom of Cambodia and its Chairmanship, the ASEAN Secretariat, and all Member States for demonstrating the political will to combat looting and trafficking from the top down. The creation of a regional working group, a multi-year action plan, and an annual convening on this subject will do much to channel ASEAN’s efforts in the months and years ahead.”

Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, who opened the conference alongside H.E. Minister of Culture Phoerung Sackona and H.E. Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn, stressed the need for countries outside of Southeast Asia to support this effort—especially those who provide the market demand for looted antiquities.

“As a non-governmental organization headquartered in Washington, DC, we are grateful to see the United States working so closely together with Cambodia, as well as so many other countries here today,” Davis said at this month’s event. “These partnerships demonstrate what great accomplishments can be achieved when governments, law enforcement, and leaders in the arts and culture join forces.”

This convening is a significant milestone for ASEAN. Its ten governments are home to 55 World Heritage Sites, as well as four regional legal instruments for the protection of cultural property. It also has a demonstrated track record of tackling similar transnational problems, for example, through the ASEAN Working Group on Illicit Trafficking in Wildlife and Timber. However, despite this important foundation, the region’s art and antiquities remain under threat from criminals, as demonstrated by a slew of recent law enforcement seizures, prosecutions, and repatriations of artifacts looted from the region. The Antiquities Coalition strongly endorses today’s recommendations and looks forward to how Cambodia and other ASEAN states will combat looting.

Read the roadmap here.

For press inquiries or more information, please contact:

press@theantiquitiescoalition.org 

202.798.5245 (T)

 

AC’s Tess Davis Quoted in ICIJ’s Met Investigation

Posted on by Helena Arose

New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the largest museum in the United States, is no stranger to controversy. In the last decade, the museum has been at the center of numerous government seizures and repatriations, and forced to return millions of dollars worth of looted and stolen antiquities.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), along with reporting partner Finance Uncovered, reviewed records from the Manhattan District Attorney’s office that detail nine warrants to seize ancient works from the Met since 2017. ICIJ reports six of those warrants are from the past year alone, and cover more than 30 ancient relics, while two others haven’t been previously reported.

Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, was quoted as part of the investigation in response to the Met’s ongoing scandals:

“The numbers are rapidly adding up… In what other context could you make headlines so often for holding stolen property and not face any consequences?”

The Antiquities Coalition urges the Met to take strong, concrete, and immediate action to return the stolen items within its walls and set the standard for museums across the globe.

Read the full article here.

Finance Uncovered Features ASEAN Conference Organized by Cambodia with the Antiquities Coalition

Posted on by Helena Arose

Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, in cooperation with the Antiquities Coalition, held an international conference on September 5-8th in Siem Reap on The Prevention of the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Properties – An ASEAN Perspective. 

The conference featured government officials and experts in cultural policy, law enforcement, museums, and the art market from around the world and provided an opportunity for greater collaboration and understanding between ASEAN member states.

All 10 ASEAN States were represented at the conference, which was also attended by participants from eight other countries including China, India, and the US. 

Finance Uncovered, whose mission is to “to improve the quantity and quality of investigative stories that are rooted in illicit finance or exploitation by training and supporting journalists and activists around the world” and who has previously covered the illicit trade in antiquities, was represented at the conference by Malia Politzer. Prior to her work at Finance Uncovered, Politzer covered antiquities trafficking for ICIJ. 

Politzer covered the conference in the context of Cambodia’s recent work to bring their looted statues home in her new article “The Smuggling of Ancient Antiquities: Governments and art world urged to collaborate to end illicit trade.”

Read the article here. Read other coverage of the conference here.

AC and ManchesterCF Partner on Financial Crimes Training Course

Posted on by Helena Arose

Online Course Details How Art and Antiquities are intertwined with Financial Crimes

For too long, bad actors have used art and antiquities to fund their crimes and damage the legitimate art market. To assist global experts in deepening their knowledge of the role cultural heritage plays in financial crimes, the Antiquities Coalition has partnered with ManchesterCF to offer a new online course on the subject. 

Based in Toronto, ManchesterCF develops financial intelligence training programs with a global perspective. They provide online financial intelligence training programs to financial institutions, public-sector agencies and multinational corporations. Their expertise is derived from solid experience in international banking, financial intelligence and compliance.

ManchesterCF has a proven track record of working with financial intelligence and business professionals in both the public and private sectors to successfully implement courses that not only meet but exceed regulatory expectations. They have partnered with the Royal Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, AML Intelligence, and United for Wildlife, among others. The AC is proud to join these ranks to offer the FIU (Financial Intelligence Unit) Connect training program on Art & Antiquities. 

The FIU Connect (Art & Antiquities) training program provides insights on:

  • How terrorists commercialize looted antiquities
  • Different cultural heritage laws in the Middle East
  • A risk-based approach to help art market operators to assess and understand their exposure to money laundering

The course is part of ManchesterCF’s online training solution for international banks and national financial intelligence units. Individuals can create a unique login and password to access various courses and deepen their knowledge of anti-money laundering compliance.

This partnership with ManchesterCF reinforces the Antiquities Coalition’s priorities to raise awareness and develop solutions to combat looting. Read more about the course here.

AC and Yazda Partnership Showcases Cultural Heritage Practices of Religious and Ethnic Minority Community in Iraq

Posted on by Helena Arose

Yazda Videos Document Intangible Cultural Heritage Practices and New Heritage Project

The Yazidi community of northern Iraq has taken another significant step in response to the genocidal attacks by the so-called Islamic State in 2014. With the assistance of the Antiquities Coalition, a US-based NGO, and funded by a grant from the United State Agency for International Development, a new program of heritage documentation is releasing its first videos of Yazidi efforts to directly counter attacks on their culture.  

A group of videomakers at Yazda, a Yazidi social and cultural services organization, has received training and guidance in the documentation of intangible cultural heritage from the AC, and is recording and archiving the music, stories, religious practices, and family life of the community. Their first video is a look at this program of intangible heritage documentation, which permanently documents these cultural practices.

The second video documents another program from the Yazda/AC/USAID team. “Ray of the Sun” is a project that brings together young Yazidis and community cultural leaders to teach the history, stories, and culture of the community to the younger generation. Classes take place in displaced person camps and community facilities across northern Iraq and are designed to ensure that the Yazidi have heard the stories and understand the cultural practices of their community.

These efforts record and preserve the cultural practices that define the Yazidi community – the community that ISIS sought to end. 

According to Ismail Issa, the program manager at Yazda, “This program is critically important for the Yazidi people. ISIS attacked us to eradicate us and our culture. With our partners at the Antiquities Coalition and USAID, we are making sure that our culture is understood by our children – who can ensure that it will live on.”

“Our Yazda colleagues have learned the video production and intangible cultural heritage video documentation techniques remarkably quickly and well,” says Antiquities Coalition Co-founder Peter Herdrich, the project director. “We are proud to be working in service to them and to these critical heritage preservation goals.”

Yazda will make scores of videos available to the local community, to the extensive Yazidi diaspora, and to interested people around the world via their YouTube channel early next year in their effort to ensure their culture will never disappear. 

Learn more about the project here.

Watch both videos below.

News Outlets Feature ASEAN Conference Organized by Cambodia with the Antiquities Coalition

Posted on by Helena Arose

Following decades of civil war and unrest in the last century, Cambodia’s wealth of cultural heritage was looted and stolen by bad actors and laundered onto the global art market. 

Today, as Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Cambodia is working to retrieve its stolen history, while assisting other ASEAN member states in strengthening their own fight against cultural racketeering.

Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, in cooperation with the Antiquities Coalition, held an international conference on September 5-8th in Siem Reap to achieve this goal. The conference featured government officials and experts in cultural policy, law enforcement, museums, and the art market from around the world and provided an opportunity for greater collaboration and understanding between ASEAN member states.

Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, spoke alongside H.E. Phoeurng Sackona, Cambodia’s Minister of Culture and Fine Arts, and other leaders during the four-day event. In her remarks, Davis noted that Cambodia had recently celebrated some of the largest recoveries of stolen art since World War II.

The conference was covered by numerous sources, including:

The Antiquities Coalition looks forward to sharing takeaways from this event and continuing to work with ASEAN member states to combat looting.

Antiquities Coalition Enlists the Public to Help Cambodia Find Another Missing Masterpiece

Posted on by Helena Arose

Organization Updates the “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities” List Following the Awareness Campaign’s First Successful Recovery

Siem Reap, September 5, 2022 — The Antiquities Coalition is excited to announce a new addition to its “Ten Most Wanted” list, an illustrated guide to cultural treasures from around the world that have been looted or stolen and are still missing. The update follows the awareness campaign’s first success, the recovery and return of a monumental 10th Century sculpture of the elephant-headed god Ganesha. U.S. authorities repatriated the piece to Cambodia on August 8 in New York City.

To honor Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover its stolen heritage, the Antiquities Coalition is introducing Uma, the consort of Shiva, as the newest item on the list. Uma was looted from Khmer-Rouge territory and then laundered onto the global art market by the notorious trafficker Douglas Latchford. The now disgraced “adventurer scholar,” who also trafficked the Ganesha, made headlines in last year’s Pandora Papers for smuggling blood antiquities from Cambodian war zones and then hiding his millions of dollars in profits through the misuse of tax havens, trusts, and offshore accounts. 

Bradley J. Gordon, an American attorney for the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, is leading a team of experts tasked with bringing Khmer antiquities home. Gordon describes how Uma was looted and why it should be returned to the Kingdom:

“Two years ago, the head of a looting gang, Lion, recounted to our team in Cambodia about removing two females from the Prasat Thom complex at Koh Ker in 1997. Jungle Cat, the head of a smaller gang, removed a male from the same location.”

Last year, a team of Cambodian archeologists discovered the pedestal of three statues on site, which they believe belong to the two females and one male. They also discovered a foot which archeologists believe matches one of the females—a statue now on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The current location of Uma, the twin of the female statue at the Met, is unknown.

“The other female we are now searching the world for appears in Latchford’s book ‘Adoration and Glory’ according to testimony from Lion. The Cambodians are waiting for all three statues to return home” said Gordon.

Following the successful efforts by Cambodia to locate and return its cultural treasures, including the Ganesha, there is hope that artifacts like Uma will also be returned.

“We’re ecstatic that the Ganesha, one of the Ten Most Wanted Antiquities, is returning to its rightful home, but numerous artifacts remain missing,” said Deborah Lehr, Chair and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition. “Our updated campaign introduces a new Cambodian masterpiece and encourages the public to help us return this heritage. We look forward to continuing to raise awareness of cultural racketeering and collaborating with governments, advocates, and responsible leaders in the art market to combat looting.”

The release of the updated list coincides with an international conference in Siem Reap, hosted by the Royal Government of Cambodia and the Antiquities Coalition, gathering government officials and top experts from around the world to develop concrete solutions to safeguard the region’s past for future generations. The event also serves as an International Plenum and meeting of culture ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to foster greater collaboration and understanding among member states.

The new “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities” now features the following artifacts from Cambodia, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Guatemala, India, Iraq, the United States, and Yemen. The list, chosen in cooperation with top specialists, is accompanied by posters of each object to provide snapshots of the pieces’ significance, their theft, and their last known whereabouts. 

While this list highlights ten missing pieces of heritage, much of the world’s shared history remains in danger. While Cambodia is recovering blood antiquities, conflicts around the world, such as that in Ukraine, ensure that these crimes are still taking place. Periods of unrest heighten the risk that bad actors will exploit vulnerabilities in the art market to fund this illicit trade.

Any information leading to the possible recovery of these items should be submitted to law enforcement using the tip lines below:

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About the Antiquities Coalition 

The Antiquities Coalition unites a diverse group of experts in the fight against cultural racketeering: the illicit trade in antiquities by organized criminals and terrorist organizations. This plunder for profit funds crime and conflict around the world—erasing our past and threatening our future. The Coalition’s innovative and practical solutions tackle crimes against heritage head on, empowering communities and countries in crisis. Learn more at theantiquitiescoalition.org.

Media Contact

press@theantiquitiescoalition.org 

202.798.5245 (T)

AC’s Tess Davis Discusses the Return of A Looted Greek Gospel in The New York Times

Posted on by Helena Arose

Looted and stolen objects often end up in the hands of collectors who sell these pieces to esteemed art museums. While some museums delay identifying stolen heritage within their walls, others are attempting to regain credibility by returning stolen objects to their rightful homes. 

The Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, recently returned a more than one thousand-year-old handwritten gospel to the Greek Orthodox Church after determining that it was looted from a Greek monastery during World War I. This repatriation is part of the museum’s ongoing efforts to investigate the provenance of its entire collection.

Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, detailed the significance of this return in a recent New York Times article:

“I think the Museum of the Bible is a great example of how not to build a collection, but I do wish other American museums would follow its example when dealing with their own existing problematic collections,” said Davis. “In this case, curators saw red flags, they followed where they led, realized the manuscript was stolen, reached out to its rightful owner and voluntarily returned it.” 

The manuscript’s repatriation to the Kosinitza Monastery in northern Greece is scheduled for next month.

Read the full story here.

VOA Interviews Researchers at AC Luncheon Celebrating Return of Cambodian Antiquities

Posted on by Helena Arose

Following the August 8 repatriation of the Statue of Ganesha and 29 other looted Cambodian antiquities, researchers now report that former looters aided in the return of these objects. 

Prak Thida and Prum Kanha, two researchers working with the Cambodian Ministry of Culture, were interviewed by Voice of America (VOA) during the Antiquities Coalition’s August 11 roundtable luncheon to discuss how looters helped the team recover the Ganesha by detailing where and how it was looted. 

Kanha says, “[Former looters] realized they shouldn’t have done that, so they dedicated their lives to helping find the sculptures.”

This historic return inspires hope that additional antiquities will be returned to their home countries, and that former looters will continue to come forward to aid in these returns.

The Ganesha was part of the “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities” list, illustrating some of the most significant looted, stolen, and missing artifacts from around the world. The Antiquities Coalition will release an updated guide featuring a new Cambodian antiquity to find and recover.

Watch the full interview here.

AC Join 22 Organizations in Expressing Support for ENABLERS Act

Posted on by Helena Arose

The 52-year-old Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) is the primary law on anti-money laundering (AML) in the United States, but federal lawmakers must continue to amend it to further close loopholes that allow bad actors to exploit the $28 billion American art market.

Recent anti-corruption legislation, championed by Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.) and Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), would achieve this goal by adding “persons who trade in works of art, antiquities, or collectibles” to the list of high risk professionals and industries who must assist the U.S. government in preventing and detecting financial crimes.

Thanks to a vote by the House Armed Services Committee, the ENABLERS Act is included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act, an annual congressional bill that establishes national security policies and spending.

The Antiquities Coalition was honored to join Transparency International U.S., 21 other organizations, and 10 individuals in sending a letter to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Shumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and voicing support for the ENABLERS Act.

The letters detail how the ENABLERS Act would safeguard the American art market, the largest unregulated market in the world:

“The ENABLERS Act represents a major, bipartisan opportunity to close the loopholes in U.S. law that are allowing corrupt foreign leaders to finance military aggression and repressive, undemocratic regimes by stealing money from their people and hiding that money in the United States. Such schemes are possible because current U.S. anti-money laundering (AML) law does not require those American middlemen who help move and hide this money to perform appropriate background checks on their clients.”

For too long, bad actors have exploited the global art market to fund money laundering schemes, terrorist organizations, and other financial crimes. The ENABLERS Act would emphasize that cultural racketeering is not a victimless crime, and these individuals must be held accountable for their actions against our cultural heritage and global security.

The Antiquities Coalition looks forward to continued collaboration with other anti-corruption organizations and the U.S. government to close loopholes in the American art market and combat cultural racketeering.

Read the full letter to the Senate here.

Read the full letter to the House here.

The Antiquities Coalition Addresses The Need For Proactive Policies in Live Webinar

Posted on by Helena Arose

Global conflicts in Syria, Yemen, Afghanistan, and now, Ukraine have highlighted the catastrophic impact of war on cultural heritage. With this conflict comes an increase in the looting and illicit trade of antiquities. It’s important that policy makers, as well as the public, understand the stakes and consequences events like global conflict, natural disasters, climate change, and pandemics have on our shared heritage. 

On August 15th, top experts from academia, civil society, and law joined the Antiquities Coalition for an important discussion on The Need for Proactive Policy. As evidenced by the situation in Ukraine, our current policy framework is failing. Leaders need to strengthen global efforts against the destruction of cultural objects before it’s too late. 

During the webinar, these experts discussed recommendations for how international public and legal policy should take a proactive stance aimed at eradicating threats to cultural heritage globally. The discussion featured key takeaways from the Antiquities Coalition’s Think Tank and our roadmap for the G20, Safeguarding Cultural Heritage in Conflict Zones, as an example of how leaders can strengthen global efforts against the looting and trafficking of cultural objects.

Strategies include: 

  • Providing sustained focus, support, and funding on investigating and preparing policy to protect cultural heritage. 
  • Ensuring that existing laws related to the protection of cultural heritage are up to date and enforced, and increasing awareness so that these laws act as a deterrent. New policy is not always needed.
  • Creating a warning system in order to prioritize and adapt resources accordingly, so that policy makers have the tools they need when they need them.
  • Increasing awareness among policy makers and the public that crimes against cultural heritage are crimes against humanity.