ASEANEWS | Building U.S.-ASEAN partnerships to protect cultural property

For nearly 25 years, since taking emergency action to protect Cambodia’s cultural property from looting in 1999, the United States has worked with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries to protect and return their cultural property.

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Through this cooperation, the United States has returned over 100 objects to Cambodia since 2003, and this year returned additional looted and stolen cultural objects to Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam.

From September 4-8, 2022, ECA’s Cultural Heritage Center (CHC) participated in an international conference hosted by the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the U.S.-based NGO Antiquities Coalition: “The Prevention of the Illicit Trade in Cultural Property—An ASEAN Perspective.”

The conference took place in Siem Reap, Cambodia, and gathered 200 high-level participants—including ASEAN member country officials and representatives from international organizations and NGOs—to discuss trends and best practices in protecting cultural property.

Speaking at the conference’s International Plenary Session, CHC Director Eric Catalfamo stressed the urgent need for international cooperation to protect heritage under threat from political and economic crises and climate change: “This work takes on even greater urgency during times of crisis, like those we face today, with the economic disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic prompting increased trafficking of cultural property and cultural heritage under threat by political upheaval in places like Afghanistan and directly targeted in Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine.”

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Catalfamo detailed the benefits of entering into bilateral cultural property agreements with the United States, which enable the establishment of U.S. import restrictions to prevent looted objects from entering the United States.

Cultural property agreements prevent criminals from profiting from the sale of trafficked cultural property, facilitate the return of looted and stolen cultural property objects from the United States to their countries of origin, and provide frameworks for enhanced international collaboration.

In his opening remarks, Deputy Prime Minister Prak Sokhonn highlighted the U.S.-Cambodia Cultural Property Agreement’s role in bringing historical treasures back to Cambodia, including the Skanda on a Peacock—a 10th century sandstone statue of the Hindu war deity Skanda considered a masterpiece and a valuable part of Cambodian cultural heritage.

Minister Sokhonn said, “We would like to thank our international partners, especially the United States, for helping to get back these stolen antiquities, stop the smuggling, and return the cultural treasures to Cambodia.” Eca.state.gov

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