On March 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of State’s Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF) held a virtual training workshop for law enforcement officials from the United States to enhance their knowledge of cultural property of Indigenous and Native Peoples of North America and build their capacity to protect Indigenous heritage by disrupting its trafficking.
The training brought together more than 180 participants from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the State Department, the Smithsonian Institution, international partners, and representatives from U.S. universities and museums. Participants heard presentations from government officials and academics on partnerships and collaborations, object handling, and implementation of the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act. Participants were also able to listen to presentations from and engage with Indigenous speakers on the importance of tribal cultural property and the positive effects of repatriation for tribal communities.
This training is part of a series of anti-trafficking workshops supported by the CATF and organized by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum Conservation Institute and Office of Global Affairs, in collaboration with HSI, CBP, and FBI. These workshops provide law enforcement with knowledge and capabilities to help identify, investigate, and prosecute some of the most-trafficked categories of cultural property. Established by the State Department in 2004 at the direction of Congress, the CATF comprises federal agencies that share a common mission to disrupt cultural property trafficking in the United States and abroad. Since its creation, the CATF has supported more than 100 domestic and international cultural property training programs. CATF is a law enforcement-focused working group of the Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee (CHCC). The CATF and CHCC are both managed by the State Department’s Cultural Heritage Center.
Regarding Native American affairs, the Cultural Heritage Center coordinates with federal, state, and tribal authorities to return foreign materials held in the United States and facilitate the recovery of Native American cultural heritage, including ancestral remains, held in foreign museums or offered for sale in foreign countries. To help facilitate voluntary returns, the Cultural Heritage Center helps build connections between Native American communities and representatives from foreign museums and collections.
Additionally, the Cultural Heritage Center is expanding efforts to facilitate voluntary returns through engagement with Tribes, international museums, and our U.S. Embassies, with processes enabled by the STOP Act in December 2022.
The workshop conducted on March 28th offered a whole-of-government approach to combatting the illicit trafficking of cultural property of Indigenous and Native Peoples of North American and included invaluable and essential input from Native American cultural heritage experts.
