No.83 Seminar ： The fight against illicit art trafficking, pillaging, and other forms of art crime in Asia
- Stefan Gruber (The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research)
- 2014/09/16 4:00pm
- The Hakubi Center for Advanced Research (iCeMS West Wing 2F, Seminar Room)
- Japanese
Summary
Looting and illicit trafficking in cultural relics pose major threats to Asia’s cultural heritage. Cambodia, for example, continues to suffer significantly from a constant drain of both its tangible and intangible heritage, while in China, antiquities are believed to be the largest single class of smuggled items, particularly via its Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau. INTERPOL ranks the illicit trade in cultural artefacts as the third most profitable illegal trade after arms and drug smuggling. This not only causes a continuing loss of cultural objects, but also the destruction of large numbers of archaeological and historic sites, as objects are not only stolen from collections and museums, but also looted from tombs, or cut off from larger pieces in order to obtain transportable parts for sale on the international art market. Another form of art crime of particular large scale in Asia is art forgery and trade in fake antiquities. The seminar presentation will highlight the relevant international conventions for preventing the theft of and retrieving stolen cultural relics, examine how particularly regional cooperation and can assist in improving the situation, and discuss relevant domestic legal, political and practical aspects, measures and problems in the context of art crime in Asia.