Doha, November 14 (QNA) – To mark the third International Day Against Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property, Qatar National Library hosted a high-level virtual panel discussion about the efforts to counter the sale and illegal circulation of antiquities and documentary heritage in the Middle East and North Africa.
Speakers at the event included Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT Marina Schneider, Advisor to UNESCO and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) Dr. Mounir Bouchenaki, Director and Regional Representative of the ICCROM-Sharjah Regional Conservation Center Dr. Zaki Aslan, and Associate Professor at HBKUs College of Law. Dr. Polymenopoulou Dr. Eleni Polymenopoulou.
At the opening of the session, Executive Director of Qatar National Library Tan Huism said: “I believe that our ability to prevent the loss of rare and valuable heritage materials through such activities depends on continued collaboration with key regional and international organizations and professions to reach practical and realistic solutions to protect our heritage.” “Unfortunately, the illicit trafficking of cultural goods has reached unprecedented levels in recent years, the Library has developed several initiatives and collaborations which aim to protect the regions documentary heritage from illegal circulation and to provide educational and awareness-raising efforts on this important topic,” she added.
For her part, Ms. Schneider spoke about how countries across the world have agreed to implement the same laws, making it easier for stolen or illegally exported items to be returned to their rightful owner. She said: “The world has stepped up its efforts in recent years to combat the illicit trade by outlining rules on the return and restitution of cultural items.” “The 1995 UNIDROIT Convention supplements the provisions of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property by formulating uniform legal rules on the return and restitution of cultural objects to mitigate the illicit trafficking in cultural objects,” she indicated.
During the session, Dr. Eleni shed light on the importance of heritage protection and how the trafficking of cultural goods can take different forms, ranging from theft from cultural heritage institutions or private collections to the looting of archaeological sites and displaced artefacts during war.
The event follows a recent workshop that the Library hosted about stopping the trafficking of cultural artefacts.
The Library, as the IFLA PAC Regional Center for Arab countries and the Middle East, has been a pioneer in the fight against the trafficking of documentary heritage through initiatives such as the Himaya Project. Since 2020, this has strengthened and coordinated efforts with international and regional organizations to combat illicit trafficking and has held regional and international training workshops for frontline and law enforcement organizations.
Himaya has also been present at various international events, encouraging libraries and archives from the MENA region to update the INTERPOL database of stolen documentary heritage items, among other work.
Several initiatives are set to launch under the Himaya Project in 2023. These include cooperation with the General Authority of Customs in Qatar for capacity building of officers in the region and the rollout of projects to combat the trafficking of antiquities in Afghanistan. In addition, Himaya has planned a regional awareness program for professionals about the risks of trafficking, and a collaboration with the Antiquities Trafficking and Heritage Anthropology Research (ATHAR) Project and Qatar Computing and Research Institute at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, to monitor trafficking activities on social media channels.
The Library will also continue hosting seminars and training courses to raise awareness around the ongoing illicit trafficking issue and hopes global entities will cooperate to protect world history.(QNA)