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A distinguished audience gathered for this two
and a half day meeting to consider and debate the legal and practical aspects of the
looting of archaeological sites and the licit and illicit movement of antiquities across
national frontiers. The conference was structured around a series of sessions devoted
either to regional reviews or thematic panels. Seven regions were selected for particular
focus: the Middle East, Africa, China, Italy, Latin America, the Ukraine and
Bosnia-Herzegovina. Not all were afflicted by the same problems. In the Middle East, the
chief cause of current problems was recognized as being international sanctions against
Iraq, especially those which prevented the Iraqi antiquities department from protecting or
recording threatened archaeological sites. Calls were made for the modification of
international sanctions to supply the Iraqi antiquities officials with the materials and
equipment they need to combat the current crisis.
The scale of antiquities looting in many African and Latin American countries was once
again underlined. African speakers were concerned, however, to demonstrate the falsity of
the notion that Africa 'deserves' the looting because it cannot protect its own
antiquities. Both here and in Latin America, campaigns of local education had been shown
to be effective in recruiting local support to protect archaeological sites against the
depredations of looters. In Mali, for example, missions of Education and Interdiction had
been effective locally in suppressing looting, though shortage of resources (including
personnel) were hampering efforts to develop this approach to its fullest potential.
Very different again were the problems faced in Bosnia-Herzegovina, where ethnic
conflict had led to the systematic and intentional destruction of the cultural and
religious monuments of certain ethnic groups. It was suggested that this should be
combated by classifying intentional destruction of the cultural heritage as a crime
against humanity. The thematic panels considered more general questions, including how
museums should respond to the growth of antiquities looting, and the effectiveness of
UNIDROIT and other measures in suppressing the illicit traffic. Museums were concerned
that procedures should be changed to allow longer-term loans of material from
antiquities-rich countries to western museums. For suppressing the illicit traffic, the
importance was stressed of bilateral agreements, such as those between the US and
Guatemala. A recurrent theme was the need for stronger sanctions to oblige would-be
purchasers (whether dealers, collectors, or museums) to take responsibility for checking
thoroughly the legitimacy of any objects they wished to acquire. The phrase 'due
diligence' was one which commanded general approval among participants - that a would-be
purchaser must exercise due diligence to ensure that the object in question had not been
stolen or illegally exported or imported from its country of origin.
The conference ended with the adoption of a series of five resolutions, arising
from the debates of the previous days:
- Believing that the ethical and legal acquisition of ancient art and
artefacts is in the best interests of institutional and private collectors in their role
as stewards of the cultural heritage, and benefits both public education and international
cooperation, we urge that:
- Museums, dealers, and collectors should adopt and adhere to the principles of the
International Council of Museums (ICOM) Code of Ethics, implementing acquisition
procedures to the highest feasible standards of due diligence, in order to sustain a licit
exchange and trade in such objects.
- Convinced that the looting of antiquities deprives
them of their historical context and causes the destruction of archaeological sites, we
encourage nations rich in antiquities:
- Not to lend works of art and antiquities to museums that continue to acquire looted
materials illegally removed from those nations.
- Convinced that the international exchange of cultural
property is of great importance for stimulating understanding and respect for foreign
cultures and for the education of future generations, we encourage the governments of all
nations:
- To promote long-term loans of cultural objects to foreign museums and other
institutions, in compliance with international standards.
- To amend national laws, which limit the duration of such loans too restrictively, in
order to provide for a minimum two-year loan period for exhibition purposes.
- Recognizing the present crisis atmosphere, we express
grave concern for the safety of the worldıs cultural heritage in Iraq. The continuing
international sanctions, imposed by the United Nations following the Persian Gulf conflict
of 1991, have brought archaeological research, conservation, and museum activities in Iraq
to a standstill. The Department of Antiquities is unable to retain professional staff and
guards to protect even the most famous Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, and Islamic sites
from systematic, large-scale looting. The training of new Iraqi archaeologists is hindered
by the embargo on current publications and by their isolation from on-going international
research. In consequence, there is a loss of irreplaceable information on human history
and a flood of smuggled Mesopotamian artefacts into the international antiquities market.
The result will be a long-term adverse effect on the management of cultural heritage in
Iraq. We therefore urge the United Nations Security Council:
- To exclude the cultural and educational spheres from the embargo.
- To allow the supply to Iraq of materials and publications related to cultural
activities.
- To allow the resumption of foreign scholarly participation in cultural heritage-related
activities in Iraq.
- Aware that international cooperation is essential for
the safe-guarding of the worldıs cultural patrimony, we urge all nations to become party
to the relevant international agreements for the protection of the cultural heritage,
including the
- Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict,
1954
- UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export
and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, 1970
- UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects, 1995
We further urge that:
- General treaties, such as the Optional Protocol 1 (1977) to the Geneva Conventions and
the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal, which criminalizes serious offences
against the cultural heritage, should be observed and enforced.
- All nations should take part in the Diplomatic Conference to be held in Amsterdam in
March, 1999, to adopt new provisions to reinforce the effectiveness of the Hague
Convention 1954.
- Concerned that large numbers of cultural monuments
have been destroyed during armed conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina and elsewhere, we express
dismay that much of this destruction has been deliberate and systematic. The aim has been
to weaken the identity and resolve of a supposed enemy, to undermine its historic claim to
territory, and to rewrite history, reinforcing political claims while perverting the aims
of objective scholarship. Such trends conscript culture and history as political and
military tools, and represent a descent towards barbarism that all scholars have a duty to
resist. Regretting the failure to implement the provisions of the Hague and Geneva
Conventions protecting religious and cultural monuments in time of war, we consequently
call for:
- Support for the review of the conventions with the aim of strengthening them, effective
enforcement of the provisions of the conventions, and the punishment of the guilty.
- The establishment of a standing group of universities, cultural organizations, and
professional associations to campaign for such actions.
- The creation of a steering committee to organize, monitor, and publicize immediately
necessary actions.
The conference participants present at the November 1 session approved the above
resolutions unanimously, with one abstention registered for each resolution (by the UNESCO
representative per the requirements of her office) and two abstentions on resolution 4.
The resolutions were proposed by Claire Lyons, Wolf-Dieter Heilmeyer, Kurt Siehr, Malcolm
Bell III, McGuire Gibson, John Malcolm Russell, Zainab Bahrani, Samuel Paley, John
Yarwood, Muhamed Filipovic, and Jerrilyn Dodds.
First posted March 1999; Page
design updated September 2006 |
