The American art market comprises 42% of the international art market, making it the largest in the world. Because of its scale, U.S. collectors, policymakers, and the public are uniquely positioned to play a role in combating the illicit trade of art and antiquities.
While most individuals assume looted and stolen artifacts are prevalent only in the U.S.’s largest museums, these objects are located across the nation and appear frequently in smaller museums and at premier art shows.
Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, spoke to David Quiñones, one of the hosts of the Why Are We Like This? podcast, to discuss the global issue of cultural racketeering and how the illicit antiquities trade thrives in the podcast’s home state of Florida.
Miami Beach is the U.S. location for the Art Basel show, an art fair hosting some of the top galleries and auction houses in one place. Davis notes that because efforts to mitigate the illicit antiquities trade have largely focused on New York, illegal art markets are emerging in cities like Miami Beach, Houston, and more.
There have also been significant repatriations from Florida residents in recent years, most notably from Netscape founder James H. Clark. Clark’s collection included tens of millions of dollars worth of artifacts smuggled and trafficked from Southeast Asia, including the 1000-year-old statue of Ganesha.
Davis emphasizes that awareness around the illicit antiquities trade is growing and museum patrons are increasingly holding these institutions accountable for the stolen objects within their walls. As more individuals speak out about cultural racketeering, we can expect to see more repatriations from collectors and museums and vital policy change from national and international governments.
As long as there have been tombs, there have been tomb raiders. For hundreds of years, civilizations have attempted to preserve their history from enemies seeking to plunder them, but today we’re seeing these crimes take place on an unprecedented scale. Globalization and technology are advancing at a much faster rate than our governments, law enforcement, and public policy can fight back.
These bad actors also have an increased opportunity to strike when regions are experiencing conflict. In Iraq and Syria, war has led to a surge of looting of archeological sites and the production of counterfeits as the illicit antiquities trade generates substantial revenue for conducting acts of violence on local and international scales.
On December 9, 2022, Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, and Helena Arose, Project Director of the Antiquities Coalition, were honored to speak during the International Anti-Corruption Conference to discuss the issue of looted antiquities and conflict financing. They joined the panel “Looted Antiquities and Conflict Financing” hosted by the Docket, an Initiative by the Clooney Foundation for Justice. In 2020, The Docket launched a multi-country investigation tracking the smuggling of antiquities from Syria, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen into European markets and the United States. It released the results of this investigation in a report this summer.
Moderated by Shaunagh Connaire, Communications Director at the Clooney Foundation for Justice, the panel featured Davis and Arose alongside Antonia David, Legal Program Manager at the Docket, Layla Hashemi, Researcher and Data Analyst at the Terrorism Transnational Crime and Corruption Center, and Mike Loughnane, President of Loughnane Associates.
In many jurisdictions around the world, including the United States, the multi-billion dollar art market is not subject to anti-money laundering protections. Davis, Arose, and their fellow panelists emphasized that this comes back to the misconception that cultural racketeering is a white-collar, victimless crime. Policymakers are beginning to realize the urgency of tackling this illicit trade, but a lack of global policy has pushed the burden of action onto the art community.
“We have been expecting archaeologists, conservators, preservationists to combat trafficking, money laundering, tax evasion, sanctions evasion,” said Davis. “These are completely different languages.”
The panelists concluded the conversation with three key takeaways for attendees:
International governments need to close loopholes in the art market regulation that allow for corruption, sanctions evasions, and financial crimes to effectively mitigate the illicit antiquities trade.
Public institutions, including museums, need to be held accountable for their complacency and participation within the illicit trade. These institutions can play a vital role in advocating for legal practices in the global art market and influencing private collectors.
Anti-corruption and transparency organizations have a role in the fight against cultural racketeering as this illicit trade not only compromises bad actors but ethical collectors and consumers.
The Antiquities Coalition thanks the IACC for hosting this important conversation and looks forward to collaborating with global anti-corruption experts to protect and preserve our shared history, human rights, national economies, and global security.
The illicit trade of art and antiquities is no longer a niche issue. Global leaders in government, law enforcement, museums, and more recognize that significant action must be taken to end cultural racketeering and safeguard our shared history for future generations.
In 2022, the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Cambodia, and the Group of Twenty (G20) summit in Indonesia shined a light on this crime. These summits introduced and reinforced the threat of the illicit antiquities trade to a larger audience and presented solutions for mitigating the issue. Each initiative also introduced a declaration broadly mentioning plans to combat the illicit trade in art and artifacts and/or preserve and protect cultural heritage.
The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) held a Diplomacy Debrief on November 21, 2022, to dive deeper into takeaways from each of these events and some of the most pressing international issues.
Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition and Term Member of the CFR, had the opportunity to ask these experts about the role that cultural diplomacy—like that seen at this year’s COP270, G20, and ASEAN meetings—plays in wider foreign diplomacy.
Miles Kahler, Senior Fellow for Global Governance at CFR and a professor at the American University School of International Service, answered that antiquities have been part of illicit financial flows as a result of globalization, and this is a big issue facing museums and other cultural institutions around the world. Kahler also shared the role of the G20 is to signal to governments that cultural racketeering is an important issue on the international agenda.
Zoe Liu, Fellow for International Political Economy at CFR, spoke about China’s perspective on the illicit antiquities trade, as Chinese politicians and scholars have been interested in receiving stolen Chinese statues from the British Museum as the country builds major museums. Liu emphasized that cultural diplomacy is an important aspect of bilateral relations between the United States and China.
The CFR previously discussed the issue of cultural racketeering during an episode of its “Why It Matters” Podcast. Davis joined Dr. Amr Al Azm, Professor of History and Anthropology at Shawnee State University, and host Gabrielle Sierra to explore cultural heritage during war, antiquities looting and trafficking, terrorist financing, and more.
Latest Policy Brief Outlines Best Practices Based on Lessons Learned from Museum Deaccessioning
From the United States, to Senegal, to Ukraine, communities are increasingly reevaluating the legacy of public monuments, especially those erected during prior regimes. This is a complex process, requiring consideration and input from a wide range of stakeholders. However, in many cases, heritage organizations have not yet taken an organized role to support citizens and their governments in navigating these difficult waters.
In the Antiquities Coalition’s newest policy brief, Kate Harrell and Damian Koropeckyj call on cultural heritage professionals to play an active part in this ongoing conversation, given the field’s wealth of knowledge regarding the care, conservation, documentation relocation, storage, and removal of cultural property. They also argue that should a community decide to remove a monument, this action should be considered a form of “community deaccessioning,” analogous to deaccessioning within the museum space, and thus guided by written policies and best practices. The authors provide a series of recommendations to support heritage professionals in developing such principles based on what has worked in the museum context.
“Moving forward together as an international community of experts in heritage is particularly important in the face of issues as fraught as monumental removal” Harrell and Koropeckyj write. “The policy recommendations that follow should be considered a call for action for both heritage workers and their executive organizational bodies.”
This is the twelfth policy brief published by the Antiquities Coalition Tank, which works to bring high-quality, innovative, and results-oriented research to the world’s decision makers. The institution seeks to foster debate and discussion on the most pressing challenges facing cultural heritage today, whether the illicit antiquities trade, armed conflict, or climate change. It was honored in 2018 as one of the world’s “Best New Think Tanks” by the University of Pennsylvania’s prestigious Global Go To Think Tank Index.
For a summary and link to the policy brief, click here.
Cultural racketeering is a critical threat to our shared past, but the international community must also take urgent action against another rising danger: Climate change is devastating not only communities across the world, but also their cultural heritage, and risks wiping away this irreplaceable history for future generations.
In certain instances, climate change leads to the looting of artifacts. Some of Mongolia’s nomadic herders were forced to turn to alternative sources of income once the environment was no longer suited for grazing and they suffered a loss of income. The country has been a victim of cultural racketeering for decades and has implemented laws to protect and preserve its heritage, but these alone can’t stop climate change from intervening.
Deborah Lehr, Chair and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition, joined international experts in climate, government, and more for the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, to discuss global efforts to confront the climate crisis and how cultural heritage professionals play a role.
As part of the Climate Heritage Network, the Antiquities Coalition recognizes that climate change is a top global threat to all aspects of our world. Lehr was honored to engage with other members in sessions about cultural heritage-based climate solutions and cultural extinction. These sessions featured Ministers of Culture from Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates alongside other government officials, highlighting the critical role policymakers play in establishing climate-conscious standards.
During Solutions Day at COP27, the Climate Heritage Network presented the “The Sharm El-Sheikh Declaration on Culture-based Climate Action.” The statement was endorsed by all participants of the Ministerial session and seeks to enhance culture-based solutions to climate awareness. It builds on commitments made in the Paris Agreement, the Rome Declaration adopted at the 2021 G20 Summit, and the Naples Declaration from this year’s Conference of the Ministers of Culture of the Mediterranean.
The declaration follows the Climate Heritage Network’s “Climate Heritage Manifesto,” inviting civil society, cultural organizations, and other stakeholders to signal our joint ambition to fight the climate crisis.
The Antiquities Coalition is a proud signatory of the Manifesto and commends the Climate Heritage Network for its efforts to raise awareness of the connection between cultural protection and preservation and climate change and looks forward to participating in future conversations about the issue.
Ministers Responsible for Culture and Art Build Further on ASEAN’s Commitment to Combat the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property
On November 28, the ASEAN Ministers Responsible for Culture and Arts released a Ministerial Statement on Cultural Property Protection, following their meeting which took place on October 27, 2022.
The strong statement recognized that the illicit trade is a serious transnational crime threatening Southeast Asia’s rich heritage and harming local communities. It also noted that 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 through twelve specific initiatives, including:
ADVANCE a long-term, regional strategy that addresses the root causes of the illicit trade in cultural property;
ENCOURAGE all Member States to consider expanding the possibility to ratify or implement the relevant regional and international agreements related to the protection of cultural property against looting, illicit import, export, and transfer of ownership, while exploring how to best fill the gaps in this legal and regulatory framework in accordance with their respective national laws and regulations;
EXPLORE the possibility of forming an ASEAN working group/cross-sectoral initiative to coordinate a regional response, with the goal of developing a sustainable, multi-year action plan that tackles the illicit trade from all angles;
This statement builds on a roadmap released following an international conference held in September, “The Prevention of the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Properties: An ASEAN Perspective.” The conference, organized by the Royal Government of Cambodia in collaboration with the Antiquities Coalition 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.
Described as the “crossroads of cultures,” Afghanistan is home to a wealth of cultural heritage hailing from the Near East, Central Asia, South Asia, and more. Like many other nations, the country has also suffered consequences to its history as a result of global conflicts.
Decades of war from the ongoing Soviet invasion devastated the National Museum of Afghanistan, the most important repository of heritage in the country. Research estimates 70% of the objects from the museum were looted and 90% of registration records were destroyed.
The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago is committed to preserving and protecting the cultural heritage in Afghanistan. Their work is supported by major grants from the US Department of State through the American Embassy in Kabul and aims to rebuild the National Museum, develop a geospatial database of all detectable archaeological sites, support infrastructure projects, and raise awareness for the National Museum among high school students in Afghanistan.
Alejandro Gallego López, OI’s Program Field Director in Afghanistan, collaborates with other heritage experts to carry out these projects and to protect precious, culturally significant artifacts from destruction or theft.
Additionally, López along with Dr. Gil Stein and M. Fahim Rahimi published “A History of Afghanistan in 100 Objects” which details some of Afghanistan’s most culturally significant artifacts from prominent historical time periods. The book is free to download or read online.
The Antiquities Coalition interviewed López about his recent publication and work with the OI.
The Archaeological Institute of America is the oldest and largest organization in North America focused on archaeology, and the Antiquities Coalition has been proud to partner with the AIA since our founding. The AC’s Chair Deborah Lehr, an AIA General Trustee from 2013-2019, joined by Peter Herdrich, who served as an AIA Board Member and later CEO, created the Antiquities Coalition to fight back against cultural racketeering.
This November, Executive Director Tess Davis, who started her career at the AIA, was featured as the Virtual Lecturer of the Month. She presented two talks: Blood Antiquities: Tomb Raiders, Art Smugglers, and the Black Market in Cultural Treasures and The Wild, Wild East: Combating the Black Market in Ancient Asian Art.
Davis stressed the important role of archaeologists in raising awareness that antiquities trafficking is not a harmless crime. If you are a member of the AIA or an archaeologist interested in joining the fight to combat looting:
Raise awareness about illicit trafficking and its harms to your community, students, and colleagues.
Demand accountability from leading institutions when they exhibit stolen antiquities.
During AIA letter writing campaigns, share your experience to help the U.S. Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC) with deliberations that will help safeguard archaeological sites and objects.
And, follow the Antiquities Coalition on social media for the latest news, free resources, and calls to action.
World Leaders Address Cultural Racketeering in 2022 Bali Declaration, Building on Progress Made During the 2021 Rome Summit
From November 15-16, heads of the world’s largest economies gathered for the 2022 G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia. At the conclusion of the summit, the G20 leaders adopted the Bali Declaration, a culmination of the work undertaken by the Indonesian G20 Presidency over the course of the last year, which reaffirms the G20’s commitment to cultural heritage protection:
We reaffirm the role of culture as an enabler and driver for sustainable development with intrinsic value beyond its social and economic benefits. We are committed to develop policies that draw on cultural diversity as a resource for sustainable living and promote an inclusive and equitable ecosystem at all levels that values the contribution of those working in the culture, arts and heritage sectors. We will respect, protect and preserve the cultural heritage of our peoples, including local communities and indigenous peoples, as applicable. We support public incentives and sustainable investments from the private sector to strengthen the cultural economy. We will safeguard cultural heritage as well as fighting illicit trafficking of cultural property and promoting restitution to its rightful owner/countries of origin, in accordance with the relevant UNESCO Conventions and national laws.
This powerful statement aligns with last year’s Rome Declaration and the broader efforts of the Italian presidency, under which the G20 prioritized making culture part of the post-COVID recovery, as well as incorporating it into the institution’s broader work to secure economic integrity and transparent markets. This resulted in a Cultural Ministerial, held at the Colosseum in Rome during the summer of 2021, the culmination of a series of high-level events on the illicit trade that led up to the G20 Summit. The Indonesian presidency continued to build on this important groundwork, holding a G20 Cultural Ministers’ Meeting in Borobudur from September 12-13.
The statement in this year’s leaders declaration also addresses the first recommendation from the AC’s Roadmap for the G20 to Combat the Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects. The report, co-authored with international experts, called for the G20 to Build Political Will through a statement annually in the final declaration. With two years of strong statements in the Leaders’ Declarations, the G20 has demonstrated the political will needed to combat looting and trafficking from the top down.
The AC commends the G20 for making this issue part of its agenda and continuing to make cultural heritage an international priority. With the announcement of the prominent theme of India’s G20 Presidency, “Soul of India,” and given India’s role as a cultural leader in South Asia and beyond, the AC looks forward to what the Indian government will do to continue this critical focus.
Leaders’ Statement Follows Joint Initiative Between the Antiquities Coalition and Cambodia
Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have released their 2022 Vision Statement as part of the organization’s 40th and 41st Summits, held from November 10-13 in the Kingdom of Cambodia, this year’s Chair. This declaration has included an unprecedented pledge by all ten Member States to combat the illicit trade in art and artifacts, a transnational crime that is threatening the region’s rich heritage, local communities, and national economies. Specifically, as part of a broader commitment to promoting global cooperation and peace, it urges ASEAN governments to:
ENHANCE the contribution of culture and the arts to promoting sustainable development through support for cultural and creative industries, as well as cultural property protection and preservation against cultural losses due to illicit trade and trafficking, climate change, and human-induced and natural disasters.
This vision statement reinforces Cambodia’s Chairman’s Statement from the Summit, as well as recommendations developed during a high-level international conference held from September 5-8 in partnership with the Antiquities Coalition and ASEAN. In addition to the organization’s Member States, “The Prevention of the Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Properties: An ASEAN Perspective” also brought together international law enforcement, museum leaders, and private sector representatives in Cambodia to develop priorities for the region. Published on October 5, the event’s ambitious roadmap urges ASEAN to take concrete action against cultural racketeering, including the creation of a regional working group, a multi-year action plan, and an annual convening on the subject.
Cambodia and the United States, where the Antiquities Coalition is based, have worked effectively together for decades to preserve and protect cultural heritage. Over the last ten years, U.S. authorities have partnered with their Cambodian counterparts on a number of criminal investigations and prosecutions, resulting in tens of millions of dollars worth of repatriations to the kingdom. These include one of the world’s “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities,” a monumental sandstone sculpture of the elephant-headed god Ganesha, which was returned to Cambodia in August along with 29 other masterpieces.
During the separate U.S.-ASEAN Summit, also held in Cambodia on November 12, Prime Minister Hun Sen thanked President Biden directly for this work and called the United States the world’s “number one” country for recovering and returning stolen art to Cambodia. The U.S. and ASEAN further cemented their strategic partnership with a joint statement that also showcases a shared commitment to cultural preservation, by agreeing to:
BUILD people-to-people connectivity within the region and beyond by […] promoting and protecting cultural heritage.
President Biden and Prime Minister Hun Sen at the ASEAN Summit. Credit: Samdech Hun Sen, Cambodian Prime Minister on Facebook.
“The Antiquities Coalition commends the Royal Government of Cambodia, ASEAN, and all its other Member States for putting the fight against cultural racketeering so high on this year’s Summit agenda and committing to future action,” said Deborah Lehr, Chairman and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition. “We are excited to see how the Republic of Indonesia, the 2023 ASEAN Chair, picks up this mantle and further showcases the rich cultural heritage of Southeast Asia to the world.”
AC Commemorates UNESCO Observance with Top 5 Achievements in 2022
Every year, significant milestones are made in the fight against cultural racketeering. From international agreements to repatriations, the Antiquities Coalition celebrates these achievements and looks forward to taking part in future actions to fight the illicit trade of art and artifacts.
Today, the Antiquities Coalition is joining UNESCO and other experts to commemorate the International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property. This observance reminds the world that theft, looting, and illicit trafficking of cultural property takes place in every country, robbing people of their culture, identity, and history — and, that we have to work together to combat this crime.
In honor of this annual observance, take a look at five moments from 2022 that impacted the fight to combat looting.
AC Joins International Leaders to Stand Against Looting
International cooperation is critical in the fight against cultural racketeering as it allows nations to come together and develop proactive policies to keep looted objects from passing through borders and onto the global art market.
🇰🇭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. With support from the Antiquities Coalition, Cambodia has released an ambitious roadmap for tackling the illicit trade in cultural property across 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 Siem Reap. The Antiquities Coalition joined the Kingdom’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts in recruiting high-level experts to share global best practices during the event.
🏛️On National Museum Day, the Antiquities Coalition joined the China-Europe-America Global Initiative in organizing “The Second Dialogue: Protection of Our Cultural Heritage,” speaking alongside 31 experts from 10 countries. The global dialogue featured international leaders in government, the arts, business, and more in discussions about how we can work together to better safeguard our history.
📃The Antiquities Coalition joined the first cultural ministerial of the EU-Southern partnership alongside European governments, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organizations in Italy to explore how Mediterranean leaders can prioritize the protection of cultural heritage. The Conference of the Ministers of Culture of the Mediterranean ended with the signing of the Naples Declaration, which seeks to protect cultural heritage from disasters and other crisis scenarios while highlighting how culture drives and enables sustainable development. The Antiquities Coalition was honored to be one of the few non-governmental delegations, and the only one from the United States, to sign the communique and speak at the broader event.
“Ten Most Wanted Antiquities Campaign” Celebrates Its First Success
A decade-long and ongoing investigation into Douglas Latchford’s network by Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York uncovered thirty looted Cambodian artifacts in the collection of Netscape founder James H. Clark.
In August, the U.S. government repatriated the cultural treasures to the Kingdom of Cambodia, including a monumental sandstone sculpture of Ganesha, the elephant-headed Hindu god. The Ganesha marks the first success of the “Ten Most Wanted Antiquities,” our 2020 awareness campaign to locate and recover some of the world’s most significant looted, stolen, and missing artifacts.
Clark explained why he voluntarily gave up the pieces after learning they were stolen, saying, “my doing this might inspire other people to do the same, but I’m not sure—it’s hard for people to give up something they paid for, but for me, why would you want to own something that was stolen?”
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 Latchford.
Seeking Accountability for Museums with Looted Objects
Some of the world’s most prestigious museums are entangled with bad actors in the global art market, and more members of the public are increasingly calling on museums to identify and return looted objects in their walls.
In June, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg seized 5 Egyptian treasures worth over $3 million from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as part of a police probe that first made headlines in 2019. The probe exposed an international trafficking ring operating out of Egypt and war zones such as Libya, Syria, and Yemen.
“If our foremost museums, with entire departments of lawyers and scholars on staff, cannot ensure their collections are not the products of crime and conflict, then there is a clear and urgent need for stronger legal protections in the art market,” said Deborah Lehr, Founder and Chairman of the Antiquities Coalition.
Museums have a unique opportunity and responsibility to set the legal and ethical standards for all who operate within the wider market. Once known as the gold standard for due diligence and transparency, these museums must take steps to regain public trust.
A New Heritage Platform to Combat Looting in Algeria
Collaboration between governments, law enforcement, cultural experts, libraries, conservators, businesspeople, and more is necessary to develop solutions to safeguard cultural heritage across the world.
The ongoing partnership between the Antiquities Coalition and the Algerian Ministry of Culture, sponsored by the U.S. Embassy in Algiers, is working to preserve and protect the region’s heritage with new tools and digitization solutions. In May, the partnership announced the launch of Turathi, a photographic guide to help identify Algeria’s stolen cultural heritage.
The photo guide and accompanying database are a work tool intended primarily for local customs officers, law enforcement, and international partners involved in the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property. However, the guide is available to everyone interested in protecting Algeria’s cultural heritage.
Major News Outlets Amplify the Global Issue of Cultural Racketeering
Following a flurry of headlines from the October 2021 Pandora Papers expose, major news outlets continued to feature the illicit antiquities trade in 2022.
Deborah Lehr, Chair and Founder of the Antiquities Coalition, was quoted in a number of news articles throughout the year, placing the Antiquities Coalition at the forefront of organizations working to end the illicit antiquities trade. Lehr’s op-ed for Artnet details how the U.S. art market can ensure Russia does not evade sanctions to finance the Ukraine invasion. Smithsonian Magazine, The National News, and Euronews also featured Lehr’s experienced point of view when detailing various examples of this illegal market.
Tess Davis, Executive Director of the Antiquities Coalition, was quoted in the New York Times and Bloomberg Businessweek on the subject and even made a cameo alongside John Oliver. The Last Week Tonight segment detailed examples of museums and collectors participating in this illicit trade and why it continues to thrive today.
Oliver shared examples of illicit antiquities at the British Museum before diving into provenance research. Davis provided insights on one incident where Sotheby’s auction house ignored warning signs of a looted Cambodian antiquity and put the statue on the front of one of their more prominent auction catalogs of the year. The segment has garnered millions of views on YouTube, helping to raise awareness of cultural racketeering and why we must combat looting.
The Antiquities Coalition thanks its partners, governments, law enforcement, the public, and more for their critical role in the fight against the illicit trade of antiquities. Learn more about the International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property on UNESCO’s website.
On August 10, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a law requiring art museums across the state to prominently identify art stolen by Nazis in placards placed alongside the works. The law covers pieces that experienced theft, seizure, confiscation, forced sale, or other involuntary means during the Nazi era in Europe.
This action follows continued efforts by the state to return Nazi-looted work over the last several years and educate New Yorkers about the Holocaust and its impact.
We spoke with Marc Masurovsky, co-founder of the Holocaust Art Restitution Project (HARP), to discuss the importance of this legislation, how it will impact Holocaust survivors, and whether we can expect other governments to develop similar laws for all types of stolen heritage.
