AC Convenes Global Experts at the 12th UNTOC Conference of the Parties

In the last 50 years, the UN has taken great strides to address the looting and trafficking of cultural property, from the Security Council, to the General Assembly, to offices and agencies including UNODC and UNESCO. However, organized crime in the cultural sector goes far beyond illicit trade. 

To effectively broaden the global approach to cultural crimes, the AC was proud to co-host a side event on the margins of the 12th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, titled Beyond Looting and Trafficking: Recommendations for Combating Crimes Facilitated by the Art Market. In collaboration with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Governments of Italy, Mexico, and the United States, the event reintroduced this critical issue to the meeting’s agenda for the first time in over 10 years, marking it as the only side event dedicated to cultural racketeering.

In her opening remarks, Executive Director Tess Davis emphasized the value of the topic’s inclusion: “UNODC has a valuable role to play, as does its groundbreaking instruments, especially the Conventions against Corruption and that against Transnational Organized Crime. These treaties, two of the most adhered to in the world, could be valuable tools in the fight against criminal misuse of the art market. UNTOC, specifically, can further the criminalization of relevant offenses, create frameworks for international cooperation, and strengthen training, assistance, and prevention.”

Criminals will and have gravitated to cultural property and the art market, where there are many opportunities, gaps, and loopholes to exploit in order to to commit a wide range of offenses from trafficking, to fraud, forgery, tax evasion, money laundering, and sanctions violations. In many jurisdictions, the sector is not yet subject to the standard legal protections and oversight covering similar high-risk, high-value industries. Art is frequently referred to as the largest unregulated market in the world, which, as these examples show, leave it vulnerable to bad actors. In addition, these crimes are often viewed as white-collar or victimless. Therefore, despite the work of law enforcement, there are few prosecutions for these serious crimes that threaten our shared heritage, national economies, and global security, meaning those engaged in these crimes see seizures, forfeitures, and repatriations as just the cost of doing business.

Speakers including Mr. Murat Yildiz (Trafficking in Cultural Property Lead of the Global Programme on Criminal Network Disruption for Border Management Branch at UNODC), First Chief Warrant Officer Monica Satta (Cultural Heritage Protection Carabinieri Command), Counsellor Diego Alonso Simancas Gutierrez (Deputy Representative of Mexico to the UNODC and the Wassenaar Arrangement), and Dr. Greg Borgstede (Division Chief in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Office of Western Hemisphere Programs) addressed these issues head on, providing a number of concrete recommendations for member states, the public, and the international community.

1. At the national level, there is a great need to study, harmonize, and update domestic laws, while providing much-needed training to legislative drafters, attorneys, and judges. Member states should also consider criminalizing cultural crimes as “serious offenses” under the UNTOC, if they have not done so already.
2. Successes in recovering objects are often due to interagency and international cooperation, which can be better facilitated by IGOs and the UNTOC. 
3. Approaches by member states to this issue can and should model approaches to other types of crime, such as drug, weapon, or wildlife trafficking – this can also make solutions more comprehensive and cost-effective.

UNODC reinforced the importance of the UNTOC framework for achieving these goals:  “The UNTOC framework is essential for tackling trafficking in cultural property and related crimes across borders. UNODC is committed to supporting Member States by enhancing the capacity of criminal justice practitioners—through technical assistance in prevention, detection, prosecution, and adjudication—to strengthen cross-border cooperation in the fight against trafficking and illicit trade.”

Crimes that involve cultural property or works of art are crimes, first and foremost. The AC thanks Italy, Mexico, the United States, and UNODC for sharing their expertise and experience, a strong sign that an increasing number of governments of the world recognize the need for action at the top to bar criminals from the $70 billion global art market.The AC remains committed to promoting  innovate solutions for combating looting and enhancing the protection of cultural heritage across the globe.

Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have released their 2024 Vision Statement as part of the organization’s 44th and 45th Summits, held in the People’s Democratic Republic of Lao, this year’s Chair.

In a sign of the ASEAN’s continued prioritization of cultural heritage, this guiding document announced a new regional initiative:

“We noted the significant efforts to protect, preserve and promote our rich cultural heritage through deepening cooperation with partners in the areas of research, capacity-building and digital culture, and the development of the feasibility study on the envisaged ASEAN Cultural Heritage List.”

ASEAN’s ten governments are already home to 55 UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The ASEAN Cultural Heritage List (ACHL) would complement UNESCO’s efforts to inventory significant heritage while also addressing the region’s specific needs.

The ACHL would also be a boon to agencies responsible for enforcing ASEAN member states’ four regional legal instruments for the protection of cultural property. Databases give authorities a way to identify artifacts, helping authorities catch stolen antiquities, eliminating the payout for looters.

In 2022, Cambodia used its platform as ASEAN Chair to unite the region in the fight against the looting and trafficking of cultural heritage—a transnational crime that is still threatening Southeast Asia’s rich heritage, local communities, and national economies. That same year, the Antiquities Coalition joined the Kingdom’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in recruiting high-level experts to share global best practices at a convening titled, “The Prevention of the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Properties: An ASEAN Perspective.”

Following Cambodia’s leadership on this issue, ASEAN continues to address cultural destruction and looting. Their strong statement recognized that the illicit trade is a serious transnational crime threatening Southeast Asia’s rich heritage and harming local communities. Safeguarding cultural heritage and building a responsible market are goals pursuant to ASEAN’s broader goals of maintaining and enhancing peace, security, and stability, and committed to collaboration.

The Antiquities Coalition commends the members of ASEAN for their enduring dedication to protecting cultural property.

Read the full statement here.

Learn more about past ASEAN Commitments, here.

Antiquities Coalition joins leading heritage experts in Milan for UNESCO’s “Preventing art crimes through regulation and self-regulation. A partnership between public and private actors.”

In Milan, Executive Director Tess Davis complemented discussions on so-called “soft law” in the private sector with success stories from state initiatives from such international groups as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and the Group of 20 (G20), as well as examples of bilateral cooperation like the 2021 Manama Statement of Cooperation between the US and Bahrain to combat criminal misuse of the art and antiquities market.

Today, cultural heritage faces very different challenges than half-a-century ago, when much “hard law” was created. Unlike “hard lad,” “soft law” is not legally binding, and  can include agreements, principles, declarations, statements, recommendations, guidelines, standards, and other instruments used by states and international organizations. 

Expanding economies globally continually grow international demand for ancient art. At the same time, trade—both legal and illegal—increases. Technological advances such as overnight global shipping, social media, and money transfer apps provide accessible outlets for easy, immediate, and anonymous exchange of cultural materials in the international market.

In this new digital age, many of the legal frameworks conceived in the mid-20th century to prevent crimes involving art and antiquities fall short. Presenters in Milan recalled Jeffrey Robinson’s remarks on “The Globalization of Crime”:

“As long as we live in a world where a sovereignty philosophy from the 17th century is reinforced by a legal system conceived in the 18th century, based upon a conception of the fight against crime from the 19th century, which is still trying to come to terms with 20th century technology, the 21st century will belong to international criminals.”

The legal change necessary to meet 21st century challenges is arduous and will take time. However, soft law offers tools to mitigate crime in the interim. Although soft law mechanisms between state parties are less binding than treaties, they are often more inclusive, more efficient, and include stronger language, demonstrating political will, establishing priorities, and endorsing best practices to new audiences.

Speakers affirmed how soft law tools can raise awareness of these criminal threats. Still, persistent cases of high stakes global art crime, carried out by oligarchs and terrorist financiers show the limitations of soft law and self-regulation. Ultimately, both soft law and legal conventions are needed to strengthen law enforcement and support judicial action to hold criminals accountable for dangerous crimes made possible by the globalized art market.

Learn more about the conference here.

Explore the potential of soft law mechanisms in our report, Roadmap for the G20 to Combat the Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects.

Executive Director Tess Davis and leading Ukrainian heritage professional Ihor Poshyvailo discuss threats to museums in Ukraine, and the world.

Recent years have been witness to the world’s leading museums caught up in scandals, lawsuits, and even criminal prosecutions for acquiring, possessing, or even just displaying stolen or looted art and antiquities. Together, actors in public and private cultural sectors have made significant progress on these fronts, but much remains to be done. 

Responsible players in the art market are also beginning to recognize their vulnerability to new emerging threats—that is financial crimes in the art market.

Addressing the world’s leading experts in museum security at the Smithsonian National Conference on Cultural Property Protection held at the Getty Museum, Executive Director Tess Davis spoke about recent case studies of economic crime, providing a new perspective on the leading risks to museum institutions’ staff and reputations. Davis opened the discussion with this affirmation,

“Any institution that operates within the art market, any institution that accepts donations, frankly any institution that operates globally, even—and perhaps especially—public institutions like museums, needs to be aware of what is happening.”

Following her remarks, Davis interviewed Dr. Ihor Poshyvailo, General Director of the National Museum of Revolution of Dignity and the Co-Founder and Coordinator of the Heritage Emergency Response Initiative. Dr. Poshyvailo has been on the frontlines of the war of Russian aggression in Ukraine, experiencing firsthand how cultural identity and heritage have become weapons and victims in the ongoing conflict.

Historical propaganda has long been a central component of Moscow’s information warfare campaign. However, since the 2014 invasion of Crimea, art has likewise been a documented tool for key Kremlin allies to evade sanctions, launder money, and hide their substantial assets. Recalling looting in museums by Russian armed forces, Igor painted a picture of the harsh realities museum professionals on the ground in Ukraine face to this day.

From the event, participants gained a greater appreciation of the risks inherent in today’s art market. As both market participants and stewards of sought-after cultural materials, museum institutions have tremendous potential to change the art world for the better–or worse.

Follow the critical work of the Heritage Emergency Response Initiative

Learn more about Russia’s cultural warfare in our Think Tank Policy Brief, here.

Read AC Founder and Chair Deborah Lehr’s Op Ed on how Russian oligarchs use the art market to evade US Economic Sanctions, here.

G7 Italian Presidency Convenes World Powers to Confront Transnational Threats Posed by the Illicit Trade In Cultural Goods

On September 19-21, world leaders met in Naples for the 2024 G7 Cultural Ministerial. At the meeting’s conclusion, the G7 leaders adopted the Ministerial Declaration on Culture, Common good of humanity, and Common responsibility.

Like the Group of 20 (G20), the Group of 7 (G7) unites global economic leaders to confront the world’s leading problems. Current G7 members include the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom (UK), and representatives form the European Union.

This year, Italian Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli brought Ministers of Culture from the G7 Member States for a meeting, which addressed critical heritage issues including protecting cultural identities, culture in the time of artificial intelligence, climate change resilience, and—notably—the global fight against the illicit traffic of cultural goods.

The G7 Ministerial Declaration highlighted the threat posed by illicit art and antiquities trafficking:

Acknowledging that illicit trafficking of cultural property is not only linked to organized crime and in some cases even terrorist financing, the latter notably in conflict or post-conflict situations, but cultural property can also be misused for money laundering, corruption, tax evasion and sanctions evasion.”

The statement also importantly introduced targeted actions to combat these threats:

• To improve the prevention and detection of transnational crimes involving art and antiquities, members committed to strengthening cooperation and coordination, with the help of leading and emerging international agencies in the space. Alongside established powerhouses such as UNESCO, ICCROM, OSCE, WCO and Interpol, the Declaration encouraged members to capitalize on protections offered by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). These protections are enumerated in the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and the UN Convention Against Transnational Crime (UNTOC).
• G7 members will consider the possible negotiation of bilateral agreements to streamline cooperation between our competent authorities in the process of research, identification and return of illicitly trafficked cultural property. Such agreements between countries with large markets for antiquities, so-called “market countries” would aid in preventing illicit cultural imports and would hugely benefit recovery and restitution efforts. 
• To further transnational cooperation, the G7 states will use their advantage as tech pioneers to promote accessibility and interoperability among existing tools and national databases on stolen cultural property. Members also commit to support AI-powered investigative tools to analyze the art market and to monitor and inspect the illegal trade of cultural property, similar to the Stolen Works of Art Detection System (SWOADS) developed by the Italian Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. 
• Lastly, members made major commitments for capacity building—particularly in developing countries— through partnerships with international organizations, culture and heritage professionals, law enforcement units and customs and judiciary authorities.

The Antiquities Coalition welcomes these recommendations, many of which are in line with those we have made in our three task force reports and a number of separate events. It is more critical than ever for market countries to take action in the global struggle to protect shared cultural heritage threatened by the illicit market. Combined the G7 countries account for more than 69% of the global art market. 

Access the Ministerial Declaration on Culture, Common Good of Humanity, and Common Responsibility and learn more about the ongoing work of the G7 Italian Presidency, here.

Check out recommendations from our G20 Task Force, our Financial Crimes Task Force, our Culture Under Threat Tasks Force, and our events with UNCAC and UNTOC.

Museum actions speak louder than announcements, especially when it comes to taking accountability for past wrongs.

While the return of an object to a country of origin is important, it is only one part of a comprehensive, ethical, and transparent provenance program. Other important steps include proactive collections research, open and honest communication and collaboration with stakeholders, updating policy for the 21st century, and following not only the letter, but the spirit of the law.

As  public institutions, museums owe this to their local, national and international, public audiences. Until then, the public should feel empowered to hold museums accountable, and should follow the their repatriation efforts closely. The AC is watching this space, and we encourage the public to do the same.

Read our recent LinkedIn article on the Met’s actions vs. announcements here and below, and follow the AC for more.

The Antiquities Coalition was grateful to participate in The Third Doha Workshop to Combat Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Heritage: Strengthening the Legislative and Legal Framework and Building Institutional Capacities, hosted by the Qatar National Library (QNL), and the US, Italian, and French Embassies in Doha. 

The only U.S. NGO in attendance, the Antiquities Coalition was strongly represented at the event by Executive Director Tess Davis and Director of Programs Helena Arose. Davis and Arose joined distinguished speakers over the course of one week, and presented on different aspects of the legal framework to fight cultural racketeering: 

• The illicit trade in art and antiquities is, first and foremost, a crime. Executive Director Tess Davis addressed how, nationally and internationally, we must take better advantage of existing laws and conventions combating corruption, fraud, money laundering, sanctions evasion, and terrorist financing. Pursuant of a whole-of-UN approach, she recommended the harmonization of UN treaties, such as those overseen by UNESCO and UNODC, UN Office on Drugs and Crime.
• Director of Programs Helena Arose presented on soft law as well as other policies, such as declarations, principles, and resolutions, which are not legally binding, but can help address gaps in the current legal framework for protecting cultural heritage, drawing from her own work at the AC. She concluded her talk with a recommendation to optimize soft law tools to build momentum for legal change, while filling the gaps in existing policy.

AC-led discussions complemented themes across the conference, which highlighted trends in legal implementation and adaptation–namely, the challenges and progress made in tailoring 20th century French laws for modern Middle Eastern contexts. All speakers noted that the framework has flaws: inconsistent translation into Arabic, gaps in the criminalization of illicit antiquities trade, and overall lack of region-specific law enforcement and judiciary tools.

Poor understanding creates poor policy. Dedicated, interdisciplinary research into existing legal frameworks and evolving problems is essential to ensure that policymakers account for the needs of local and international communities.

Learn more about the conference here.

A New Publication by IICAS on the Cultural Heritage Legislation of Central Asian Countries

On August 28, 2024, the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (IICAS) published a new publication by Professor James K. Reap from University of Georgia and his colleagues Ryan M. Rowberry and Andrew P. Gamble, exploring the legal frameworks that protect the cultural heritage of Central Asia.

“Preserving the Silk Road: Cultural Heritage Legislation in 5 Central Asian Countries” provides a brief summary of the laws of the region, followed by an analysis of each focusing on the 14 key elements such as heritage administration, emergency situations, and funding. The research covered Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

What makes this publication particularly significant is its accessibility. Until now, comprehensive research on cultural heritage legislation in Central Asia has been largely unavailable in English, creating a gap in understanding these nations’ efforts to preserve their rich heritage. By addressing this gap, Preserving the Silk Road breaks new ground, offering policymakers, researchers, and cultural heritage professionals invaluable insights into this vital region.

The Antiquities Coalition is proud to have supported the groundbreaking publication through Andrew Gamble, a former legal intern with our organization, who lent his time and expertise to the project. Andrew’s contributions demonstrate how collaborative research can drive progress in protecting cultural heritage worldwide.

We extend our congratulations to Professor James K. Reap, Ryan M. Rowberry, Andrew P. Gamble, and IICAS for this landmark achievement and are honored to have played a role in its success.

The e-book “Preserving the Silk Road: Cultural Heritage Legislation in 5 Central Asian Countries” can be downloaded for free from the following link: https://www.unesco-iicas.org/book/173