UNESCO and Interpol step up battle against stolen Iraqi artifacts

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) have stepped up their battle against the illicit traffic in Iraqi cultural properties after widespread looting there with the establishment of a regularly updated database.

An amendment to the 1999 Cooperation Agreement between the two organizations, signed at UNESCO headquarters in Paris yesterday, lays the ground for establishing and compiling a database on cultural properties stolen in Iraq, for which the scientific responsibility has been entrusted to the UN agency.

It will give customs officials, police and other players in the international art market regularly updated information on cultural property stolen in Iraq. Based on information supplied by UNESCO, which will provide scientific expertise alongside other national and international organizations, the inventory will be distributed in a CD-Rom on stolen objects worldwide that INTERPOL produces and updates every two months.

"Not only does this agreement represent a step forward in the protection of Iraqi cultural heritage, it also shows the willingness of the international community to make the fight against the illicit traffic in cultural goods a priority, recognizing that these goods must not be viewed as an ordinary commodity and that they are a fundamental element of peoples' identities," UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura said.