Lithuania joins UNESCO committee to prevent illicit trafficking of cultural property
At the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, Lithuania was elected to the Subsidiary Committee of the Meeting of States Parties to the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
The Convention urges States Parties to take measures to prohibit and prevent the theft, pillaging and illicit trafficking of cultural property as well as its taking under compulsion arising from the occupation of a country by a foreign power. The Convention applies not only to cultural heritage property with historical, archaeological or artistic features, but also to such property of significance to science. States Parties undertake to enact the necessary protective measures: to prohibit museums from acquiring cultural property which was illicitly exported; to prohibit the import of cultural property stolen from museums or state, municipal or social institutions after the entry into force of the Convention; at the request of a state to which a cultural property belongs according to its origin, to find and return the stolen and illicitly imported cultural property. The recovery and restitution of cultural properties is an especially important elemento f the Convention.
The 1970 Convention has been ratified by 143 states. Lithuania ratified the Convention in 1998.
The Committee, to which Lithuania has been elected for the first time, is responsible for promoting the objectives specified in the Convention, reviewing the reports of States Parties regarding implementation of the Convention, sharing best practices, and recommendations, and identifying problematic areas and challenges to the implementation of the Convention. Members of the Committee serve 4-year terms.
In the face of Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, issues related to the illicit import, export and transfer of cultural properties have become even more important to Europe generally, and to Lithuania. In view of this, it is especially important to Lithuania to strengthen its expertise in this area and its positions in international organisations, such as UNESCO, where Lithuania along with countries sharing its views and values can consistently express support for Ukraine and counterbalance the participation of Russia, the aggressor state.
The Subsidiary Committee is formed on the basis of geographic balance and fair rotation among States Parties. Lithuania was elected to the Committee, together with Türkiye, Brazil, China, Iran, Zambia, Egypt, Palestine and Azerbaijan. The Russian Federation, which sought a second term, received the least votes and was defeated.
The newly-elected States Parties, along with the entire Committee, will begin their work on 1–2 June. Lithuania’s delegation in Paris consisted of Ambassador Jolanta Balčiūnienė, the Permanent Delegate of Lithuania to UNESCO, First Secretary Mindaugas Gabrėnas, Gytis Oržikauskas, Senior Specialist of the Cultural Heritage Policy Unit at the Ministry of Culture, and Rūta Kačkutė, General Director of the National Museum of Lithuania.
In the photograph – Lithuania’s delegation in Paris (from left): Gytis Oržikauskas, Rūta Kačkutė, Jolanta Balčiūnienė, Mindaugas Gabrėnas
Last updated: 24-07-2023