This November 14, Unesco is organizing, in partnership with the European Union, a day on the "illicit trafficking of cultural property". A traffic that has reached considerable proportions, especially in areas affected by armed conflicts or natural disasters and that the Covid-19 pandemic has not slowed down. A scourge often associated with organized crime networks, it affects all regions of the world. On the sidelines of this international conference, Sciences et Avenir met Lazare Eloundou-Assomo, director of the Culture and Emergencies program at Unesco.
On September 23, 2021, UNESCO welcomed the return to Iraq by the United States of a world heritage jewel, the 3,500-year-old "Gilgamesh tablet". It had been looted in Iraq in the 1990s.
Sciences et Avenir:On November 14, Unesco is organizing an International Day for the Fight against Illicit Trafficking. What do you expect?
Lazare Eloundou-Assomo:It is a day that is part of UNESCO's desire to collaborate with its essential partners, which are INTERPOL, ICOM (International Council of Museum) or UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law ) as well as the Member States, in the fight against the illicit trafficking of cultural property. This day is also intended to raise public awareness of the dangers posed by this trafficking, for the communities and peoples to whom they affect. It also commemorates the date of the signing of the Convention of November 14, 1970 for the fight against trafficking in cultural property.
"Due Diligence"
Do you see an improvement in the awareness of the various Member States on these issues?
The fight against illicit trafficking began fifty years ago… And of course, there have been improvements. Many countries have ratified the 1970 Convention:141 Member States have signed this instrument of international cooperation to date. And the more the number of signatory countries increases, the more they are likely to have to respect their obligations by putting in place all the necessary means to prevent the transfer, export and import of cultural property. Compared to the past, this is a very big step forward since many countries have created dedicated institutions. Remember, however, that the Internet did not exist when this agreement was drafted. Since then, new forms of illicit markets - which no longer go through traditional circuits - have been set up, using online platforms where this traffic has intensified, including during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has therefore become more essential than ever to continue to apply what is called "due diligence", that is to say the verification of the provenance of the goods acquired.
However, renowned institutions have recently been found wanting… What do you see?
Indeed, faults or lack of vigilance have been recognized by some major museums, after acquisitions of works have proven to be the result of looting. This is the case, for example, of the Tablet of Gilgamesh, whose Unesco recently celebrated the return to Iraq, after this object ended up in the United States. Admittedly, I have highlighted the advances in the fight against trafficking, but they are clearly not enough. The fight will be complete when all countries have ratified the 1970 convention.
Which countries still haven't ratified it?
Of 193 UNESCO Member States, 141 have ratified the Convention and of the 52 that have not yet done so, 17 are in Africa or are small island states. Their ratification is nevertheless fundamental, because the traffic in cultural property adapts very quickly and constantly seeks new routes. Thus, to obtain import certificates, some go through transit countries that have not ratified the convention, which allows them to "launder" the looted objects by obtaining false documents. One of our objectives is therefore to sensitize these intermediate countries so that they create control institutions. Recently, Mexico - which has ratified this convention - has just created an institution, like that of the carabinieri in Italy or the OCBC (Central Office for the Fight against the Trafficking of Cultural Property) in France, to no longer see its pre-Columbian heritage exported and sold. We look forward to it.
"Our priority is the protection of all these ancient heritages"
You lead the Culture and Emergencies Division of UNESCO. What does this direction cover?
Our mission is to coordinate, on behalf of Unesco, cooperation with Member States, to respond to emergency situations facing cultural heritage throughout the world. Whether it is armed conflict or natural disaster. For this, we implement the main conventions of The Hague (Netherlands) of 1954 and that of 1970. The first refers precisely to emergency situations in the event of armed conflict conducive to illicit trafficking, the looting of archaeological sites or museums that we must protect. Our role is to help States set up services to deal with these situations, by training customs officers, police officers, judges, etc. Also under our responsibility is the protection of underwater cultural heritage, which is highly exposed to looting due to the proliferation of treasure hunters.
What are the major problems you are facing?
Emergency situations are very different from one place to another, knowing that we are neither a peacekeeping force, nor an armed force to go and protect heritage. Our role is to closely monitor the evolution of situations, which we do on a daily basis. Thus, regarding armed conflicts, we are currently very vigilant regarding Mali, Yemen, Ethiopia, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. We also operate in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Our priority is the protection of all these thousand-year-old heritages and we are in contact with all the parties involved to remind them that heritage cannot be a collateral victim.
Concerning the question of the restitution of seized objects, why is it so complex to implement them?
Each country has its own legislation concerning its heritage. Thus, it is not always up to the possessor of the object to prove that he is entitled to possess it. This is the case of French law, for example. But in other countries, such as the United States, it is up to the owner of the object to prove that the object belongs to him. In fact, the United States has signed agreements with several countries allowing them to return works to China, India and Cambodia, which have thus seen the return of Khmer statues from the 10th th century. The largest restitution ever was with Iraq which received, in July 2021, more than 17,000 works of art that had been looted in the 1990s! One of the mandates of Unesco is also to try to harmonize the laws to combat this traffic. An international database called Natlaws has thus been put in place:it currently lists more than 30,000 pieces of legislation! The fight against illicit trafficking can only be successful if all actors involved in the art market - communities, governments, art professionals - cooperate in full transparency...
Interpol data 2020
Thanks to data provided by 72 countries, Interpol has just delivered for the first time the results of a survey carried out in 2020 to assess crimes against cultural property:A total of 854,742 cultural objects were seized worldwide during this same year, whether it concerns paintings, sculptures, coins, archaeological objects or documents stolen from libraries. More than half were seized in Europe, thanks to the police units specialized in these crimes set up by most of these countries. A significant increase in illegal archaeological excavations has also been observed in Africa (32%), throughout the American continent (187%), but above all in Asia and the South Pacific."