Dear colleagues

It sems clear that international organised art crime orchestrated the
shameful looting of the Iraqi National Museum. Doubtless, such criminals
foresaw chaos in Baghdad and arranged schemes to take advantage of insecure
museums, should the moment arise. They must be identified and punished as
war criminals.

But I suggest that we should all contemplate the desperate circumstances of
ordinary people who may have participated in the pillage: living in a
society outside the rule of law, in a city no longer served by basic
amenities such as electricity and water, fearful of the future. In such
dire circumstances, would many of us have resisted the opportunity to grab
some potential security for our families?

The larger population that merits our professional rage and condemnation is
the international (effectively Western) 'art market'.  Societies that laud
the possession of unique artefacts as evidence of individual wealth and
taste thereby create the demand for stolen cultural material. The European
and American 'art market' is the monster that drives a myriad of illegal
actions, from systematic  archaeological looting to the opportunistic
pillage of the Baghdad Museum.

The challenge is to convert the culture of private ownership to communal
cultural pride. As the UNESCO Convention (1970) proclaims: 'cultural
property constitutes one of the basic elements of civilisation and national
culture', which 'enriches the cultural life of all peoples''damage to
cultural property belonging to any people whatsoever means damage to the
cultural heritage of all mankind'.








>ICOM President Jacques Perot urges all ICOM Committees and Affiliated
>Organisations to disseminate as widely as possible the following UNESCO
>press release.
>
>
>Communiqué
>Office of the Spokeswoman/ La Porte Parole
>Contact: [log in to unmask]
>Telephone: 00 33 (1) 45 68 13 26
>Fax: 00 33 (1) 45 68 55 66
>
>
>UNESCO, 13 April 2003
>
>The Director-General of UNESCO calls for all measures to be taken to ensure
>the protection and surveillance of Iraqi cultural heritage and effectively
>fight against illicit trafficking
>
>Following the acts of looting committed yesterday in the National
>Archaeological Museum of Baghdad, UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura
>has contacted the American and British authorities and asked them to take
>immediate measures of protection and surveillance of Iraqi archaeological
>sites and cultural institutions. In a letter of 11 April 2003 addressed to
>the American authorities, the Director-General emphasized the urgent need to
>preserve collections and a heritage considered to be one of the richest in
>the world. He particularly insisted on the necessity of assuring military
>protection for the Archaeological Museum of Baghdad and the Mosul Museum.
>The same request was formulated to the British authorities concerning in
>particular the Basra region.
>
>In order to prevent the illicit export of Iraqi cultural goods, the
>Director-General also undertook contacts with the authorities of the
>countries bordering Iraq and international police and customs officials to
>ensure respect of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and
>Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural
>Property. He again requested INTERPOL, the World Customs Organization, the
>International Confederation of Art and Antiquities Dealer Associations
>(CINOA), the International Council of Museums (ICOM), the International
>Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) and the principal actors of the art
>market to join forces with UNESCO in a "comprehensive mobilization so that
>stolen objects should not find their way to acquirers".
>
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Dr Linda Young
Senior Lecturer, Cultural Heritage Management
University of Canberra
Tel: 02-6201 2079
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