Antiquities Looting and the War in Syria

The U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield met earlier this month in Washington, D.C. to discuss the impact on cultural heritage caused by Syria's armed conflict. The Blue Shield is paying close attention to the situation as wartime traffickers spill artifacts onto the black market and looters trade artifacts for guns.

Several news outlets have described the deteriorating situation, including TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. The April 7, 2013 CNN report below sheds light on how antiquities are exchanged for gun money.

This post is researched, written, and published on the blog Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire at culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Text copyrighted 2010-2013 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Terrorist Financing Risks and the Illegal Trade in Cultural Property

There is sufficient anecdotal evidence to conclude that the illegal trade in cultural property may constitute a source of funding for terrorist networks.* This judgment is tacitly acknowledged by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an independent inter-governmental organization that helps to identify, assess, and understand terrorist financing (TF) and money laundering (ML).

In recommendations published earlier this year, FATF expressly takes into account the illegal cultural property trade. Its 2013 guidance report titled "National Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment" describes categories that should be included when authorities assess terror funding and money laundering risks. The report lists illicit trafficking of cultural goods, counterfeiting of antiquities, and the illegal trade of antiquities. The report also identifies art and antique dealers and auction houses as businesses "that may be useful [to include] in building a list of the ML/TF vulnerabilities that can be exploited in regulated entities."

FATF recommends that risk assessments focused on terrorist financing and money laundering "should ultimately allow public authorities to make a judgment on the levels of the risks and priorities for mitigating those risks."

One policy response that authorities might consider is the adoption of record keeping laws that spotlight black market antiquities. Such laws would foster transparency, helping to separate the legal cultural property trade from the illegal trade and serving to identify potential ML/TF crimes. A proposal describing these laws can be found in "Spotlighting Black Market Antiquities with Record Keeping Laws."

____________________

* See e.g., Eti Bonn-Muller, Inside the Israel Antiquities Authority: Interview with Amir Ganor, Archeology.org, 2010, http://www.archaeology.org/israel_antiquities_authority/ganor.html;

Blood Antiques (LinkTV broadcast Oct. 8, 2009); S Fidler, A black art: how the trade in stolen artifacts aids money laundering, organized crime, and terrorism. Financial Times. (May 24, 2003).

Research credit: Jayna Sutherland.  Photo credit: darrendean.

This post is researched, written, and published on the blog Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire at culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com. Text copyrighted 2010-2013 by Ricardo A. St. Hilaire, Attorney & Counselor at Law, PLLC. Any unauthorized reproduction or retransmission of this post is prohibited. CONTACT INFORMATION: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com

Cultural Heritage and War: A Video Report on Libya

A recent video produced by NATOchannel.tv reports on cultural heritage in Libya in the context of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.  The short, two part film titled NATO and Libya - Cultural Heritage in Times of Unrest can be viewed below.

One important remark is made by Dr. Joris Kila, Chairman of the International Military Cultural Resources Work Group.  He explains that friendly military forces committed to protecting cultural property can deny enemy forces a potential reservoir of military financing.  The comment is another reminder that meaningful investigation to uncover the connection between illegal antiquities trafficking and weapons purchases is sorely needed.

Part I

Part II

CONTACT: www.culturalheritagelawyer.com.