ICOM Red Lists-- Far More Transparency Needed

The Art Newspaper has reported on the unveiling of  the latest ICOM/US State Department Bureau of Cultural Affairs "Red List," this time for war torn Yemen.

If recent history is any guide, the US State Department funded list will now be used to help justify and frame US State Department promulgated "emergency import restrictions" on anything and everything of a type identified as "Yemeni" with the aim to suppress collecting any such artifacts in the near future.

As an ICOM official stated, "We are now strongly advising collectors to avoid the objects on the list altogether, or at least to be extra cautious and thoroughly check the legality of provenance,” says France Desmarais, the director of programmes and partnerships at Icom.  Only the Yemeni government is authorised to issue documents for the export and import of cultural goods, so how likely is it that collectors will be able to obtain such licences? “It’s difficult, but not impossible,” Desmarais says. “It is important to respect the sovereignty of nations, so if it is required by law, we must abide.”

Given the stated intent of such lists, their proliferation and their US Government funding, there needs to be far more transparency about how these lists are created, who creates them, their funding, and how they relate to US law which reserves US "independent judgment" in such matters.

Moreover,  publication of the Yemeni Red List raises particular questions whether such objects that may be seized by Customs authorities should be returned to a country in the midst of a civil war or offered "safe harbor"and whether artifacts of Yemen's displaced Jewish community should be returned at all.

Efforts to seek more specifics about these lists were met with a dismissive reference to an accompanying press kit.  The International Council of Museums is a NGO with ties to UNESCO. 

ICOM Publishes Red List

ICOM has published a " Red List of Syrian Cultural Objects at Risk" with the support of the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center. While the concept is not itself objectionable, what is objectionable is the message that the objects on the list are presumed "guilty" until proven "innocent:" 

"Museums, auction houses, art dealers and collectors are encouraged not to acquire such objects without having carefully and thoroughly researched their origin and all the relevant legal documentation."

While this may make sense for objects where there is already a reasonable suspicion that they may have been illicitly removed from Syria, it makes little sense for items like Roman coins, which are legally sold and collected most everywhere.

Meanwhile, in the ever more surreal archaeological blogosphere, anti-American Paul Barford demands to know why the Obama Administration has not already entered into a MOU with Syria to protect Syrian cultural patrimony.  To be fair, perhaps Mr. Barford is just trying to be ironic.

In any event, presumably US Customs already feels it has ample authority to interdict illicit Syrian cultural property based on the bewildering array of economic sanctions already in place.

ICOM Working on Syrian Red List

NBC News reports that ICOM is working on a Syrian Red List of Antiquities at Risk.  Unfortunately, the unfolding tragedy in Syria again seems to have encouraged others to use it as yet another opportunity to pursue an anti-collecting agenda, complete with the usual cast of villains and stratospheric valuations of objects that have allegedly been looted. 

CPO nonetheless wishes to join others in their concern about the consequences for archaeology of the chaos in Syria. Syria has far fewer sites than Iraq, but the disintegration of government authority across the country will surely put these, and the treasures in Syria's museums, at risk. Many Syrian artifacts are self-evident to the knowledgeable scholar and collector, and while most do not reach the level of high art, CPO counsels against acquisition of anything that is clearly of Syrian origin from anything other than reputable sources. 

It continues to be a dark shame that much Syrian archaeology is so little documented. The inventory of the Damascus Museum's, a true gem among museums in the Middle East, filled with crucially important material, is meager in comparison to what it holds. The same is true of Syria's other regional museum. Perhaps worse, excavations have done little to fully document what they have dug up, or allocated funds necessary to make full records of the material they have uncovered. It is always easier and more fun to dig than to record or publish. But the consequences of such negligence have been apparent in Iraq, and now stare us in the face in Syria.

What are we to do about it?

Egyptian Antiquities Minister: We've Got Things Under Control

Egypt's current antiquities minister is quoted as stating,

"All the warehouses of antiquities are fully secured, noting that only 2 percent of the artifacts were stolen during the state of lawlessness which prevailed in the country, he added."

http://allafrica.com/stories/201202211274.html

If so, where is the "emergency" that has prompted all the lobbying from the archaeological community and the sole source contract to ICOM to prepare a "Red List" of Egyptian antiquities that are supposedly at risk?

Egypt in Crisis: Clamp Down on Pro-Democracy NGOs Derails Clamp Down on Collectors?

The Egyptian Military Dictatorship's decision to put Americans associated with pro-Democracy NGOs on trial may have derailed efforts to orchestrate emergency import restrictions on Egyptian cultural goods at least temporarily.

The roll-out of the new State Department funded Red List has occurred without the usual hoopla, except for this one post from a lawyer and former prosecutor who formally served as SAFE's Vice President:
http://culturalheritagelawyer.blogspot.com/2012/02/egyptian-red-list-now-available.html

And no wonder. While the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has been funding efforts of the archaeological lobby to justify import restrictions on behalf of the Egyptian Military Dictatorship with a sole source contract to prepare this "Red List," the higher ups at State have threatened to suspend all aid to Egypt over the jailing and threatened trial of Americans associated with pro-Democracy NGOs. See
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/world/middleeast/trial-of-americans-in-egypt-shakes-nations-ties.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=Egypt&st=cse

Cultural policy is a reflection of other government policies. In Greece, rational management of cultural resources has been hampered by over regulation, corruption and gross underfunding. Egypt's cultural policy suffers from the same ills along with an absolutely Pharaonic view of government control over the past. So why does the State Department Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, its Cultural Heritage Center and the archaeological lobby continue to subsidize and cheer for such corrupt and unfair systems?