1. Russia’s Threat to Ukraine’s Cultural Heritage Affects Us All

   The United States stands with Ukraine in its valiant efforts to protect its cultural heritage in the face of Russia’s horrific attacks causing loss of life and damage to property. The destruction of Ukraine’s cultural heritage is an attack on the identity of the people of Ukraine. Moreover, any intentional attacks on cultural property may violate the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict.

2. Interagency Training Builds Capacity to Protect Cultural Heritage

   Cultural property, art, and antiquities around the world are vulnerable to looting, theft, and trafficking by criminal and terrorist groups.

3. U.S. Department of State Partners with International Council of Museums to Fight Illicit Traffic of West African Cultural Heritage

   In response to the conflict in Mali in 2012, and in order to fight the looting of West African cultural heritage, the International Council of Museums (ICOM) have published a Red List of West African Cultural Objects at Risk, including a Mali "Emergency" section funded by ECA’s Cultural Heritage Center.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Cultural Antiquities Task Force Conducts Law Enforcement Workshops in Greece and Qatar

   Nexus between the climate crisis and cultural property trafficking explored in Athens and Doha.

7. Cultural Antiquities Task Force Organizes Law Enforcement Workshops in Cambodia and Ecuador

   Police and archaeologists team up to protect heritage sites.

8. 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.

9. United States and Peru Extend Memorandum of Understanding, Over 2,000 Items Have Been Repatriated

   This week, the United States and Peru will extend their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to continue import restrictions on archaeological and certain Colonial period material from all areas of Peru.

10. Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee Meeting

    On June 1, 2023, the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, Scott Weinhold, convened a meeting of the Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee. The Committee discussed cultural heritage protection in Ukraine and Sudan, recent multilateral engagement, and trainings and investigations with international law enforcement partners.

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