1. U.S. Department of State Partners with International Council of Museums to Fight Illicit Traffic of Yemeni Cultural Heritage

   In response to the civil war in Yemen in 2015-2016 and in an effort to help protect endangered Yemeni art and antiquities for future generations, the Department of State asked the International Council of Museums (ICOM) to produce an Emergency Red List of Cultural Objects at Risk for Yemen. It was launched at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on January 31.

2. Assistant Secretary Satterfield Leads Meeting of Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee

   On April 12, 2022, the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, Lee Satterfield, convened the 16 member agencies of the Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee (CHCC).

3. Cultural Antiquities Task Force Conducts Law Enforcement Trainings in Cyprus, Greenland, and Egypt

   The State Department-led Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF) recently resumed in-person training for foreign law enforcement officials through a series of workshops held in May 2022 in Cyprus, Greenland, and Egypt.

4. Cultural Antiquities Task Force Conducts Training Countering the Trafficking of Paleontological Resources

   The U.S. Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF), coordinated by the U.S. Department of State, held a virtual training workshop for law enforcement officials from the United States to enhance their knowledge of paleontological resources and build their capacity to protect those materials by disrupting trafficking in them.

5. Cultural Heritage Coordination Committee Meeting

   The Interagency Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee conducted its third quarterly meeting. The meeting was chaired by Scott Weinhold, Senior Bureau Official of the State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, which chairs the committee and serves as its secretariate.   

6. Announcing the Cultural Heritage Game Jam

   The Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF) in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) is diving into the world of video games.

7. Virtual Workshop Trains U.S. Law Enforcement to Detect Trafficking in Fakes and Forgeries

   Trafficking in stolen, looted, or forged art, antiquities, and other cultural objects benefits criminal organizations and terrorist groups, erodes the legal art market, and harms our relationships with foreign partners and allies.

8. ECA Launches the Arts Envoy IPR Program

   The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs launched the Arts Envoy Intellectual Property Rights Program in December to highlight the importance of protecting intellectual property rights (IPR) of visual and performing artists.

9. U.S. and Greece Sign Memorandum of Understanding

   

   The U.S. and Greece sign a cultural property protection agreement that imposes import restrictions on categories of archaeological and Byzantine ecclesiastical ethnological material through the 15th century A.D. of the Hellenic Republic.

10. Sharing (and Saving) Cultural Heritage

    While in the United States, Senat continued his work with a nongovernmental organization to help save a 6th-century castle in Kosovo with support from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, all while observing urban planning and historic preservation activities firsthand in Pennsylvania. His curiosity was well-received, and Senat was pleased by many aspects of American culture that helped him feel welcome.

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