International Trafficking of Cultural Property: An Overview and the Canadian Perspective

• Author: Kathryn Zedde
• Profession: Master of Arts (Middle Eastern Archaeology), University of London (UK)
• Pages: 375-398

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sixteen

International Tracking of Cultural

Property: An Overview and the

Canadian Perspective

KATHRYN ZEDDE*

A. INTRODUCTION

Over the past fty years, tracking in cultural property has evolved

from being perceived primarily as a cultural or moral issue in the wake

of theft and looting during World War II, to being acknowledged by the

United Nations as a signicant and growing transnational crime, and

more recently as a source of terrorism nancing. While accurate statis-

tics on the global magnitude of this trac cannot be reliably compiled,

* Master of Arts (Middle Eastern Archaeology), University of London (UK). Senior

Analyst and Manager (Ret’d), Heritage Polic y and Legislation, Government of

Canada and Past Chair, UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting

the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in

Case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP).

 ECOSOC Resolution / and the Eleventh UN Congress on Crime Pre-

vention and Criminal Justice, Bangkok, – April : Report prepared by the

Secretariat, ch I, resolution 1; subsequently endorsed in UNGA Resolution / 

( December ) and contained in the annex thereto. See also: Arianna Visconti,

“e Illicit Trade in Cultural Objects: From Marginalization to the Current Surge

in Attention by Transnational Criminal Policymakers” in Neil Boister et al, eds,

Histories of Transnational Criminal Law(Oxford: Oxford University Press, ) for

a general historical overview.

 UNSC Resolutions  (),  (), and  ().

 

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estimates have placed its value as high as  billion annually and UN

resolutions consistently refer to the involvement of organized criminal

groups. Aside from its value and links to other forms of criminal activity

such as money laundering, tracking in cultural property has prompted

action by the international community because of its long-term dam-

age to humanity and cultural identity. As the two primary UNESCO

conventions protecting movable cultural property state, cultural property

constitutes one of the basic elements of civilization and national culture,

and “damage to cultural property belonging to any people means damage

to the cultural heritage of all mankind, since each people makes its con-

tribution to the culture of the world.”

is chapter will provide an overview of the international legal

regime that has developed to deal with the trac in cultural property,

with emphasis on the transnational criminal suppression aspects. A def-

initional and descriptive introduction to the trade will be followed by a

review of the most relevant international law instruments. e chapter

will conclude with an examination of the Canadian perspective, including

relevant domestic legislation, caselaw, and some insights into Canada’s

participation in the development of international law norms.

B. “CULTURAL PROPERTY” AND ITS TRAFFICKING

ere is no universally accepted denition of “cultural property,” nor is

it dened in Canadian law. International conventions protecting cultural

objects contain denitions for their purposes, generally including a broad

range of object types, from natural history specimens and fossils to scien-

tic and technological objects, antiquities, Indigenous material, art, and

archival documents and books. e primary instrument focusing on the

 UNODC, UNESCO & World Tourism Organization, “Be a Responsible Traveler,”

online: https://bearesponsibletraveller.org.

 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and

Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, ()  UNTS  [ Convention].

 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conict,

()  UNTS  [ Hague Convention], Preamble.

 For further discussion of denitional challenges and other issues see: Ar ianna Vis-

conti, “Cultural property tracking” in Neil Boister & Robert J. Currie, eds,Rout-

ledge Handbook of Transnational Criminal Law(New York: Routledge, ).