Fighting against illicit trafficking of cultural goods on the Internet: UNESCO and its partners’ response.
Introduction
UNESCO has been a major actor in the fight against illicit
trafficking of cultural property for many years.
At the level of normative action, UNESCO has elaborated different
treaties to fight against this reprehensible phenomenon which
may occur in different contexts: the Hague
Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event
of Armed Conflict (1954) and its two protocols (1954 and
1999), and the UNESCO
Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit
Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970).
The latter was completed by the UNIDROIT
Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects in
1995, and both are operative in time of peace. The more recent
conventions [the Convention
on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage (2001),
the Convention
for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (2003)
and the Convention
on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural
Expressions (2005)] also play an important role in the
protection of the cultural heritage in all its dimensions.
At the level of diplomatic action and 'good offices', an Intergovernmental
Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to
its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit
Appropriation was established to deal with more
exceptional cases generally outside the scope of those international
treaties.
With the advent of the Internet, the traffic of cultural goods
has become more and more complex. Indeed, the Internet allows
traffickers to sell stolen cultural artefacts more easily and
more rapidly. However, at the same time, the Internet also
provides tools that help fighting against illicit trafficking.
1. The illicit trafficking of cultural property
on the Internet: the issue
The illicit traffic of cultural property is a very important
issue and, as such, it is regularly the object of recommendations
adopted at meetings of the INTERPOL Expert Group (IEG) on Stolen
Cultural Property, in which UNESCO participates. The necessity
to create a committee of experts dealing with stolen cultural
property became apparent after the destruction of the Buddhas
of Bamyan in 2001 and the looting of the National Museum of
Iraq in Baghdad in 2003.
The IEG on Stolen Cultural Property discussed illicit trafficking
of cultural property through the Internet for the first time
at its third meeting (Lyon, March 2006). Recognizing the
difficulties for law enforcement agencies to respond to the
increasing sale of cultural objects through the Internet, participants
in that meeting recommended that "INTERPOL, UNESCO and
ICOM develop and disseminate to their respective member countries
a common list of basic recommended actions to counter the increasing
illicit sale of cultural objects through the Internet".
This led to the elaboration of the list of "Basic
Actions concerning Cultural Objects being offered for Sale
over the Internet".
At the fifth meeting of the IEG on Stolen Cultural Property
(Lyon, 4-5 March 2008), participants stated that they were "conscient of
the persistent use of the Internet for the illicit sale of
cultural property involving responsibility on the part of the
Internet platforms", and recommended to the INTERPOL General
Secretariat "to collect and periodically disseminate information
from member countries concerning agreements with Internet platforms
with a view to reducing the illicit online sales of cultural
property." They also recommended to INTERPOL and UNESCO
member countries "to conclude agreements with Internet
platforms containing the limitation of sale of cultural property
according to national law, the self control of the Internet
platforms, and activities of raising public awareness of the
need for the protection of cultural property", and "to
encourage Internet platforms, auction houses and art dealers
to grant free access to online and conventional catalogues
for law enforcement agencies".
In February 2009, participants in the sixth meeting
of the IEG on Stolen Cultural Property acknowledged
the use of the Internet for the illicit sale of cultural
property and recommended to national authorities to continue
their efforts to fight against the illicit transfer of cultural
property through the Internet, and to establish specific
agreements with the main Internet platforms.
A study by INTERPOL on the use of the Internet in the selling
of cultural goods has underlined the huge difficulties that
authorities face in this field .
These difficulties are also mentioned in a document drafted
by UNESCO, in close collaboration with INTERPOL and ICOM, to
provide advice to its Member States on "Basic
Actions concerning Cultural Objects being offered for Sale
over the Internet" .
This document lists a number of reasons why monitoring the
traffic of cultural property on the Internet is so difficult:
a) the sheer volume and diversity of items offered
for sale;
b) the variety of venues or platforms for the sale of
cultural objects on the Internet;
c) missing information that hinders proper identification
of objects;
d) the limited reaction time available owing to short
bidding periods during a sale;
e) the legal position of the companies, entities or
individuals serving as platforms for
the trade in cultural objects over the Internet;
f) the complex issues related to jurisdiction
concerning these sales; and
g) the fact that the objects sold are often located
in a country different from that of the
Internet platform.
As a consequence INTERPOL, UNESCO and ICOM have developed
a list of "Basic Actions to counter the Increasing Illicit
Sale of Cultural Objects through the Internet" inviting
the Member States of INTERPOL and UNESCO and the States with
ICOM National Committees to:
1. Strongly encourage Internet sales platforms to post the
following disclaimer on all their cultural objects sales pages:
With regard to cultural objects proposed for sale, and
before buying them, buyers are advised to:
i) check
and request a verification of the licit provenance of the
object, including documents providing evidence of legal export
(and possibly import) of the object likely to have been imported;
ii) request
evidence of the seller's legal title. In case of doubt, check
primarily with the national authorities of the country of
origin and INTERPOL, and possibly with UNESCO or ICOM.
2. Request Internet platforms to disclose relevant information
to law enforcement Agencies and to cooperate with them on investigations
of suspicious sales offers of cultural objects;
3. Establish a central authority (within national police forces
or other), which is also responsible for the protection of
cultural properties, in charge of permanently checking and
monitoring sales of cultural objects via the Internet;
4. Cooperate with national and foreign police forces and INTERPOL
as well as the responsible authorities of other States concerned,
in order to:
- Insure that any theft and/or any illegal appropriation
of cultural objects be reported to INTERPOL National Central
Bureaux, in order to enable relevant information to be posted
on the INTERPOL Stolen Works of Art Database;
- Make information available about theft and/or any illegal
appropriation of cultural objects, as well as about any subsequent
sale of such cultural objects, from or to national territories,
using the Internet;
- Facilitate rapid identification of cultural objects by:
i)
ensuring updated inventories with photographs of cultural objects,
or at least their description, for example through the Object
ID standard;
ii) maintaining
a list of recommended experts;
- Use all the tools at their disposal to conduct checks of
suspicious cultural property, in particular the INTERPOL
Stolen Works of Art Database and the corresponding INTERPOL
DVD;
- Track and prosecute criminal activities related to the
sale of cultural objects on the Internet and inform the INTERPOL
General Secretariat of major investigations involving several
countries.
5. Maintain statistics and register information on the checks
conducted concerning the sale of cultural objects via the Internet,
the vendors in question and the results obtained;
6. Establish legal measures to immediately seize cultural
objects in case of a reasonable doubt concerning their licit
provenance;
7. Assure the return of seized objects of illicit provenance
to their rightful owners.
It has been specified in the report on the 2006-2007 activities
of the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return
of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution
in Case of Illicit Appropriation ,
that, despite its advisory nature, the document entitled Basic
Actions to counter the Increasing Illicit Sale of Cultural
Objects through the Internet had been submitted
for consideration to the State Members of UNESCO and Interpol
and to the members of ICOM and that these States were strongly
encouraged to convince Internet platforms to adopt such measures.
Concrete measures have also been taken following the various
recommendations issued by UNESCO and its partners.
2. Concrete measures
Most of the measures have been undertaken in partnership with
eBay. eBay has 83.9 million active users in the world
and there are 8.29 million new objects which are put up
for sale on eBay’s website each day. One of eBay’s
main objectives is to maintain trust on the market and to provide
for a safe and efficient platform. There are rules imposed
by eBay meant to guarantee the legality of all the exchanges
which take place on the platform. For example there will be
warning messages, according to the category of the object,
advising sellers to abide by the law and warning them about
the legal proceedings that can be carried out if the rules
are infringed.
eBay also cooperates with some national authorities to fight
against the illicit trafficking of cultural property. In France,
eBay has built an interface that the OCBC can
use to search for stolen goods and artefacts which would be
put up for sale online. Thus the OCBC agents can use this tool
in the course of their inquiries. Moreover, eBay regularly
transfers data to the OCBC for deeper verifications.
A pilot project was also developed in Germany, Austria and
Switzerland. In those countries, the sale of a cultural good
was only possible via the Internet platform if the seller could
prove that the object was authentic. In order to do so, the
seller had to provide a legible document. Otherwise, the object
was taken off the site.
In Switzerland, this pilot project lasted three months and
yielded excellent results. As a result, the Swiss authorities
decided to sign a memorandum of understanding with eBay, aimed
at preventing the illicit trafficking of cultural goods on
the Internet. This memorandum directly results from the application
by Switzerland of the recommendations of INTERPOL’s Expert
Group on Stolen Cultural Property held on 4-5 March 2008 and
10-11 February 2009 concerning the illicit trafficking of cultural
property on the Internet. By signing this memorandum of understanding,
eBay has accepted to authorize the sale in Switzerland of cultural
property only if the goods are certified by competent Swiss
or foreign authorities. This limitation applies particularly
to cultural property which belongs to 'risk categories', such
as those in ICOM’s Red Lists .
There will be controls to ensure that this condition is respected.
There will also be preventive information on the issue of the
traffic of archaeological goods coming from illicit excavations.
Nevertheless, one must not forget that, if the Internet makes
illicit trafficking of cultural goods easier for the traffickers,
it also provides new tools for the authorities to fight them.
Conclusion
The Internet provides a valuable tool for traffickers, making
the illicit trafficking of cultural property faster, easier
and ever more difficult to fight for the authorities. However,
the Internet can also be used against traffickers.
The Internet makes communications faster and easier. Today,
when an object is stolen, warnings can be issued throughout
the world very easily and rapidly. But the Internet’s
role does not stop here: many databases and software have been
created to flag up stolen artefacts and to help their being
found on the market when thieves try to re-sell them.
INTERPOL has developed a database on stolen works of art,
which can be accessed by specialized services and by individuals
who have requested a special authorization. National police
forces have also developed similar databases, such as TREIMA
for the OCBC in France.
Finally there are also non-governmental databases, such as
the Art Loss Register. Created in 1991, this register is the
work of a private company whose mission is the cooperation
between the police and the art world. The database works on
the following principle: a commission is paid to the Art Loss
Register by the victim or the insurance company once the object
is retrieved (the restitution rate is usually of 15 %).
Similarly, in France, a private network of insurance companies,
known as Argos, uses a database with the data provided by insurance
companies and software (web crawler) that helps retrieve images
from the Internet and treat the information thus retrieved.
Edouard Planche
Programme Specialist
Division of Cultural Objects and Intangible Heritage
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
1, rue Miollis
F-75 732 Paris CEDEX 15, France
Email: E.Planche@unesco.org
OCBC : Office
Central de lutte contre le trafic des Biens Culturels (Central
Office in the Fight against Illicit Trafficking of Cultural
Goods)
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