Some thoughts on the New Council of Europe Antiquities Convention

Archeological treasures at the Terme di Diocleziano museum in Rome, Italy, from a recent press event highlighting seized illicit antiquities. Photograph: Claudio Peri/EPA

I have a few initial thoughts on the Council of Europe’s proposed antiquities convention at the Georgetown Journal of International Law online. Here’s just the introduction:

On Friday, May 19, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe will meet to open a new treaty for signatures on a new Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property. Given that the Council of Europe now has 47 member states, including both Russia and Turkey, the impact of this new Convention could be immense. This is particularly true given that the member states of the Council of Europe include art-acquiring states, transit states, and states with ancient monuments.  The Convention may even allow any non-Council state to sign on to the Convention. The work of this draft Convention could catapult the member states of the Council of Europe to the head of the pack in embracing the complementary international conventions aimed at stemming the illicit trade in cultural property.

The full post is here.

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