International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property
Held every year on 14 November, the International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property 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.
Illicit trafficking of cultural property has many causes, and ignorance and poor ethics are at its very root. Illicitly traded cultural property is often transferred either through illicit markets worldwide or through licit markets such as auctions, including through the Internet. People, governments, the art-market and institutions can do their part to fight this by raising awareness, being informed and ethical when buying and selling art and cultural objects, enacting and respecting laws, and protecting cultural heritage and property.
UNESCO first adopted 14 November as the International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property during its 40th General Conference in 2019, with the aim of drawing more attention to this crime and the ways to combat it, as well as to highlight the importance of international cooperation and proactive measures through the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970). This Convention, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2020, provides an international framework for the prevention of theft and looting and the return and the restitution of stolen cultural property, in parallel with other advances in the fight against illicit trafficking. It is important that every buyer complies with the required due diligence when verifying the provenance of cultural property acquired in order to put an end to the illicit trafficking of cultural property.
On this International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property, UNESCO, which will make this a priority on the global agenda at the 2024 Group of 20 (G20) summit in Rio de Janeiro, urges the international community to shoulder its responsibilities. We must collectively monitor the trade in stolen works in order to preserve humanity’s shared cultural wealth.
What does UNESCO do for the International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property
Illicit trafficking of cultural property: priority of #MONDIACULT2022
On this 3rd International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property, let us recall UNESCO’s advocacy at the World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development, MONDIACULT 2022. In an ambitious Declaration for Culture, 150 States pledged to intensify the fight against illicit trafficking in cultural property by ensuring the effective the implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention and by strengthening international cooperation; they also called for an open and inclusive international dialogue for the return and the restitution of cultural property to its countries of origin.
On this International Day, read the statements of the Ministers of Culture represented at MONDIACULT 2022 from the thematic sessions Heritage and cultural diversity in crisis.
“Faced with the risks to heritage, from climate change to destruction in conflict zones, from looting to illicit trafficking, it is essential to strengthen our collective action by supporting existing mechanisms and developing cooperation and the exchange of experience and good practice.”
Rima Abdul Malak,
Minister of culture,
France
“One of the most effective ways to safeguard cultural heritage, is the consistent application of international measures at a national level, by introducing strict sanctions for illegal import of cultural heritage items from third countries, and by applying the principal of due diligence in trading with goods of cultural values. Slovakia successfully transposed the common European Union regulation last year.”
Natália Milanová,
Minister of culture,
Slovakia
“We express our support for the 1970 Convention against illicit trafficking of cultural property. We have moral authority on the matter. In 2018 we returned to our brothers in Costa Rica 197 pieces of their archaeological heritage that had entered Venezuela illegally and had been reduced to the status of goods. They were to be exported for sale. Venezuela returned all these archaeological pieces.”
Ernesto Villegas Poljak,
Minister of People’s Power for Culture,
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
“Australia is home to the world’s oldest living culture. Today I am speaking of Australia’s work on the return of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestral human remains and cultural property. […] Australia has supported this for over 30 years. This has seen the return over 1 600 ancestors and nearly 2 000 cultural heritage objects from overseas collections, along with the return of over 2 800 ancestors and 2 300 sacred objects, held in major Australian collections to their traditional custodians.”
Ann Campton,
Senior Executive, Ministry for the arts,
Australia
“The looting and illicit trafficking of cultural property are damaging to the dignity of people and reduce the opportunities for social and economic progress. This is the relevance of our fight for the cultural right of people, which includes the preservation and conservation of cultural heritage, framework of the new cultural policy of Benin. This cultural policy is in line with the provisions of international instruments, such as the 2005 and 1970 UNESCO Conventions and the UNIDROIT Convention.”
Jean-Michel Abimbola,
Minister of tourism, culture, and arts,
Benin
“Illicit trafficking of cultural property is a real threat, it is a real devastation of the country. People are only thinking about their livelihoods, and they are thinking about making a lot of money by trafficking this cultural property. We need to put in place advanced technologies in our institutions and we need more coordination and collaboration between countries to return illicitly trafficked cultural property. It is also important to work with INTERPOL, and to organise training for countries in crisis.”
Hassan Nadhem,
Minister of culture, tourism, and antiquities,
Iraq
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