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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