30 April 2003
UNESCO Wants Security Council Ban on Trafficking in Iraqi Cultural Items
("Urgent" first step is to prevent items from leaving Iraq, director
says) (960)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent
United Nations -- The head of UNESCO met with Secretary General Kofi
Annan April 30 and urged the Security Council to pass a resolution
banning the importation and sale of stolen Iraqi cultural items.
Koichiro Matsuura, director general of the U.N. Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), has been spearheading
international efforts to recover items looted from Iraq, especially
those stolen from the National Museum of Baghdad only hours after the
fall of Saddam Hussein's regime. After organizing two meetings of
experts from the world's great museums -- one in Paris in mid-April,
and a second April 29 in London in cooperation with the British Museum
-- Matsuura arrived in New York to gain the support of governments
around the world.
At a press conference, the UNESCO director general outlined the two
types of efforts that must be undertaken in Iraq.
The first category, he said, "which we must undertake very, very
urgently" is the recovery of looted cultural goods from the National
Museum of Baghdad and the protection of other museums and important
cultural heritage sites in the country.
"At the moment what is very, very crucial is to prohibit the
exportation of such illicit Iraqi cultural goods from the Iraqi
territory," he said. "Also in certain countries it is crucial to take
measures to stop the importation of such illicit cultural goods from
Iraq."
"It is important not to let goods leave Iraqi territory. It is
important to tighten border controls on both sides -- the Iraqi side
as well as on the side of the neighboring countries. We have asked all
neighboring countries to tighten border controls and we are asking the
Iraqi people to give back voluntarily what they have stolen from the
museum," Matsuura said.
He noted that the more than 95 countries that have signed the 1970
convention banning the importation of stolen cultural items are
already obligated to be on alert for any items. Countries bordering
Iraq and the United States have already discovered some items that had
been stolen. But Matsuura pointed out that those countries not party
to the convention have no obligation to prohibit the importation of
those items.
Matsuura said that he has already asked member states of UNESCO to
embargo the importation of stolen or illicit Iraqi cultural goods.
"But if there is a new Security Council resolution -- a binding
resolution -- demanding all countries to introduce an embargo, that
would be a very important step for us," he said.
A second priority that must be taken "with a sense of urgency," but
implemented in the mid-term, is the development of a database
indicating what cultural goods should be put on a list of items
prohibited from leaving Iraq, Matsuura said.
UNESCO does not know in great detail or precision which items have
been stolen, Matsuura added. "They are numerous. They are numerous so
we have to establish a database very, very quickly. We have already
started."
Matsuura said that UNESCO is working with U.S. officials to send a
small mission of experts to Baghdad and other important cultural sites
in the first part of May.
Some countries -- Italy, Japan, Switzerland, and the U.S. -- have
already pledged funds to restore and protect Iraq's cultural heritage,
he added.
The UNESCO director general said that the looting appears to have been
committed "by well-organized bandits and gangs" which were then joined
by Iraqi civilians.
"I cannot claim the whole looting is attributable to organized gangs,
but definitely looting first started with well-organized,
well-prepared gangs and then joined by normal citizens and even
children," he said.
"It is not fair" to blame the United States for the looting, Matsuura
said. "In my assessment these well-organized bandits simply took
advantage of what might be called the power vacuum created after the
fall of the Saddam regime."
"What is important at the moment is to try to implement [the actions]
I have been describing," he said. "It will not be a very useful
exercise to find out who was guilty, etc. What is crucial is to
mobilize international efforts to do what is required to protect what
remains and to recover what has been stolen."
"I don't like to criticize the United States," Matsuura said. "After
all, in the course of intensive battle anything can happen and these
bandits took advantage. It is easy to say now 'if that kind of measure
had been taken.' ...We could discuss a lot of 'if' situations in
history."
The United States has been cooperative in honoring UNESCO's requests;
using an inventory of cultural sites and museums; handing over the
lists to all soldiers; and instructing the soldiers not to attack
areas but to protect them, he said.
Despite the efforts of UNESCO and other organizations, the trafficking
of cultural goods is an enormous market amounting to about $5 billion
annually, Matsuura noted. "The 1970 convention is a serious attempt to
prohibit or end such traffic, but at the moment we are not succeeding.
Everybody says we have to do it, but it is not reflected in what is
taking place, unfortunately."
During UNESCO's last cultural mission to Iraq in 2002, Iraqi
authorities told the agency that about 4,000 items had been stolen
from various sites around the country.
"We were able to recover 1 percent of it -- about 40 [items],"
Matsuura said. "Our hands were very tied at the time. Now we will be
able to move around more freely and I hope we will be able to do
more."
(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)
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