Cultural Racketeering and Corruption: AC Hosts Training for Members of the UNCAC Coalition
July 25, 2024
Training details how art and antiquities are entwined with organized crime and corruption
The UNCAC Coalition unites members from 140 countries and facilitates the implementation of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) to combat corruption around the globe.
Criminals around the world exploit the art market to carry out crimes from fraud to forgery, tax evasion, money laundering, and sanctions violations. Cultural racketeering is not just a threat to our shared history, but to the legitimate art market, human rights, national economies, and global security.
This month, the Antiquities Coalition convened a team of world leaders in criminology, security, and defense studies. Their joint expertise represents the latest advances in the fight against cultural racketeering and organized crime. We are grateful to Dr. Donna Yates, Dr. Layla Hashemi, and Mr. Francesco Pagano for their contributions.
From numerous case studies and accounts of financial crimes involving cultural property, participants gained a richer understanding of the global scope of the persistent threat posed by an unregulated art and antiquities market.
Director of Programs Helena Arose closed the event, with this affirmation:
“The interlinked issues of corruption and cultural racketeering requires collaboration across industries, across the public and private sectors, and across national borders.”
Since joining the UNCAC Coalition in 2023, the Antiquities Coalition made significant progress in adding crime involving art and antiquities to the agenda of UNCAC.
The AC was proud to co-host a session at the 2023 UNCAC Conference for State Parties titled, “Cultural Racketeering & Corruption—Recommendations for UNCAC,” with the Italian Republic, the United Mexican States, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
Read our blog on the conference proceedings, here.
The Antiquities Coalition looks forward to future collaboration with the UNCAC Coalition to muster joint strength in the fight against cultural racketeering and corruption.