[CPProt.net] ICOM-CC appalled by looting in Iraq.

Mon Apr 14 18:26:32 CEST 2003

Robert Goldsmith is absolutely right to focus attention on the future
recovery of the looted antiquities, rather than on a long running debate of
who is to blame for the whole sorry mess.

Antiquities have been leaving Iraq for many years and have been finding
their way into the market despite the efforts of a concerned few to prevent
the trade. It is a pity that it has taken a war, and the final looting of
the museums themselves for the world to wake up to the problem. 

Whilst we continue to retain the attention of the masses, I suggest that
there is a co-ordinated effort to establish (within) a central, accessible
organisation, which possesses as much of an inventory of what was in Iraq as
it is possible to compile. The trade must be circulated with information
relating to the looted objects to ensure that as much of the market as
possible is closed to the traffickers, and any objects which surface can be
readily recognised. 

The many legal obstacles to the recovery of the looted objects will remain,
but they will be far more easily overcome if an early inventory of stolen
objects can be established and circulated. The monitoring of the art market
over the years that it will take for the objects to appear will, I suspect,
far exceed the short- term attention that the war will focus on the problem.

It is ironic that the Iraqi government was planning to hold an international
meeting in May to discuss the protection of the country's cultural property,
and there can be little doubt that present events have highlighted the
problem far more effectively than any meeting ever could have done. However
it now rests with the international community to resolve the problem and to
secure as much of this heritage as is possible. Not an easy task as has been
demonstrated by every recent conflict, all of which have resulted in the
looting of museums, and the appearance of stolen objects in the art market.

The time has come to create an organisation, which has the ability and the
support of the international community to effectively undertake this role,
and to co-ordinate the recovery of property looted during conflict. Can we
spend some time in constructive debate as to how we can move forward, rather
than continue with a negative and unproductive debate as to who did what to
whom and why?

Dick Ellis.  

Richard Ellis
Managing Director

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7224 6012 ext 121
Mob: +44 7803 081749
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7224 6019

email: dick.ellis at invaluable.com
website: http://www.invaluable.com/

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-----Original Message-----
From: Goldsmith, Robert [mailto:GOLDSMITH at frick.org]
Sent: 14 April 2003 15:56
To: list at cpprot.net
Subject: RE: [CPProt.net] ICOM-CC appalled by looting in Iraq.

I have no wish to get overly involved in this hornets nest of a discussion.

Just to keep everyone on track however, for the record, rightly or wrongly
(and this in itself is an interesting discussion -- and I have heard
effective arguments on both sides), the United States is not a signatory to
the 1954 Hague Convention.

Perhaps we should be focusing our energies on addressing the real problem
instead of exchanging barbs and apportioning blame.  The antiquities world
is going to be awash in looted objects in the coming years.  How do we make
the case internationally to pressure the private sector to adhere to the
legal and ethical guidelines (Hague, AIA, AAM, ICOM etc.) that the majority
of subscribers to this list are already sworn and committed to uphold? 

Let's be a force for positive change, shall we?

******************************************************
Robert B. Goldsmith
Deputy Director
The Frick Collection, 1 E. 70th Street, New York, NY   10021
Tel: 212-547-6857; Fax: 212-861-7347; e-mail: goldsmith at frick.org
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-----Original Message-----
From: Jorgen Wadum [mailto:wadum.j at MAURITSHUIS.NL]
Sent: Monday, April 14, 2003 8:45 AM
To: list at cpprot.net
Subject: [CPProt.net] ICOM-CC appalled by looting in Iraq.

ICOM-CC appalled by looting in Iraq.

The International Council of Museums - Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC)
is witnessing the looting and damage of cultural property in the aftermath
of war in Iraq with the utmost concern.

When ICOM-CC (Feb 25, 2003) and shortly after the International Committee of
the Blue Shield (ICBS) as well as other international organisations warned
about the consequences of war, we stressed our concern for "... the
prospects of possible damage to our shared cultural heritage and loss of
human life as a result of armed conflicts."

ICOM-CC, with many other international organisations, must now again stress
how significant and crucial The Hague Convention is to all regimes. It is
imperative that all parties in Iraq realise their responsibilities towards
cultural property.

In the "Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of
Armed Conflict", drawn up in The Hague, 14 May 1954, and entered in force 7
August 1956, Paragraph I. "General provisions regarding protection", Article
4. "Respect for cultural property" section 3 reads:

"The High Contracting Parties further undertake to prohibit, prevent and, if
necessary, put a stop to any form of theft, pillage or misappropriation of,
and any acts of vandalism directed against, cultural property. They shall
refrain from requisitioning movable cultural property situated in the
territory of another High Contracting Party."

ICOM-CC will hold all so-called Coalition Force Partners accountable for the
looting and damage to cultural property in Iraq.

Further paragraph X, "Protocol for the Protection of Cultural Property in
the Event of Armed Conflict", article 1, reads: "The High Contracting
Parties are agreed as follows: 1. Each High Contracting Party undertakes to
prevent the exportation, from a territory occupied by it during an armed
conflict, of cultural property as defined in Article 1 of the Convention for
the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, signed
at The Hague on 14 May, 1954."

Article 3 expands on this role by saying: "Each High Contracting Party
undertakes to return, at the close of hostilities, to the competent
authorities of the territory previously occupied, cultural property which is
in its territory, if such property has been exported in contravention of the
principle laid down in the first paragraph. Such property shall never be
retained as war reparations."

ICOM-CC urges the so-called Coalition Forces to act according to The Hague
Convention. There simply is no excusable exception for not following these
universal rules of civilised conduct.

ICOM-CC hopes that inventories of the holdings of looted Iraq museums as
soon as possible can be distributed to Interpol and also widely (via
e-lists) to the entire museum world in order to identify these stolen
antiquities in the market for their restitution or seizure.

On behalf of ICOM - Committee for Conservation (ICOM-CC),

Jørgen Wadum
Chair ICOM-CC

ICOM-CC is the largest of the international committees under the
International Council of Museums (ICOM) with members' world-wide from every
branch of the museum and conservation profession.
ICOM is a non-governmental organisation maintaining formal relations with
UNESCO and having a consultative status with the United Nations' Economic
and Social Council.
ICOM-CC Secretariat, 13, via San Michele , 00153 Rome, ITALY ; Tel.: + 39 06
58 55 34 10 ; Fax: + 39 06 58 55 33 49 ; E-mail: secretariat at icom-cc.org

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