[CPProt.net] Stolen cultural items on the rise, more traffic along the border

[a.cremers3 at chello.nl]

Busting black market dealers
Stolen cultural items on the rise, more traffic along the border


Sam Lewin 4/5/2005

A conference in Washington, D.C., this month aims to address the long-standing problem of looting sacred sites in America and Canada.

Hard figures are difficult to come by, but anecdotal evidence and statements from federal investigators suggest that the black market business of selling artifacts is easily a multi-million dollar a year venture that is increasing all the time.

Bonnie Czegledi, an international art and cultural property law attorney based in Toronto, believes artifact thefts and trafficking are becoming more prevalent, especially along the northern border. That’s because of a mouthful called the Bilateral Agreement Concerning the Imposition of Import Restrictions on Certain Categories of Archaeological and Ethnological Material-a 1997 agreement between the U.S. and Canada that placed import restrictions on some cultural items. The agreement was for five years and expired in 2002. 

It has yet to be renewed.

“Stuff is stolen all the time and sold south of the border for U.S. dollars,” Czegledi told the Native American Times. “Once it’s gone-it’s gone. A piece of culture is lost permanently. Canada and the U.S. should have a treaty where customs officials can seize these things and they can be repatriated.”

Czegledi said renewing the agreement is of paramount importance when it comes to stemming the tide of goods sold on the black market-except this time, she says, the deal needs to be permanent.

The United States currently has similar agreements in place with countries like Bolivia, Peru and Cambodia.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation likewise believes that artifact thefts are on the rise. Many of the items are worked through a fence and sold to collectors. "As the value of those pieces increases, we're going to see more theft," an FBI spokeswoman said.

As the Native American Times reported last week, a rash of rip-offs have hit Indian museums around the country, with thieves stealing items that were on loan from Indian tribes. A tribal elder compared the taking of such artifacts to “being raped.”

In addition to increased security to prevent domestic thefts, experts in the field advocate more aggressive prosecution for those involved in dealing stolen arts. The case of Frederick Schultz is considered a textbook example. Schultz was a prominent New York antiquities dealer convicted under the United States National Stolen Property Act for plotting to sell items stolen from Egypt. A former leader of the National Association of Dealers in Ancient, Oriental and Primitive Art, Schultz was sentenced to 33 months in prison.

The Washington conference is billed as offering both “legal and academic insight into the increasingly contentious issue of repatriation, in the U.S. and Canada, covering actual and proposed legislation, as well as the trends among museums, research institutions, and other bodies, which are operating in the absence of legal parameters.” Speakers include representatives from the National Museum of Natural History and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.

The conference is April 15 at the Fairmount Washington.

http://www.nativetimes.com/