It is well-known that non-state armed groups in the Middle East are funded by oil and ransom money. The pipeline that feeds terrorists and warlords around the world is a third. The plundering and selling of antiquities.
If activists get their way, those who buy and sell stolen cultural relics could face criminal charges.
The Docket is a Clooney Foundation for Justice project that has been investigating the smuggling and distribution of antiquities from North Africa and the Middle East. It has also examined the supply chain that distributes the stolen artifacts to Western dealers and collectors. The Docket is sharing its findings to law enforcement agencies in hopes of leading to criminal prosecutions of those who purchase these artifacts. This, it claims, will make them complicit in war crimes and financiers for terrorism.
There are only a few cases where high-profile people have been charged with purchasing stolen antiquities. However, such cases are rare.
“We feel that these investigations will not succeed unless there’s very significant public attention on the issue, or unless conflict-antiquities starts being seen as just as tainted blood diamonds or ivory trade or other forms of human trafficking,” Anya Neistat (The Docket’s legal Director), shared some of the project’s findings to reporters in D.C.
Here’s how: Since years, looted antiquities have been sold online from countries such as Libya, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Yemen. They are used to fund armed groups and their recruitment efforts. These recruits commit atrocities like the genocide and rape of the Yazidis, an Islamic religious minority in the Middle East.
Even though ISIS has left Syria, the looting continues. Neistat stated that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham continues to mine in the Idlib region. Many of the looted items between 2012 and 2016 are only now on the market.
ISIS-issued looting licenses
Amr Al-Azm, an Ohio professor of archeology and history at Shawnee State University, stated that ISIS had created a system to tax and license looters.
He said that ISIS eventually was involved in all stages of the looting, trafficking, and even used heavy machinery to dig up whole mountains. When you put that much money into this type of work, you get a return on your investment. This was a profitable venture.
Interpol reported that 19,000 artifacts stolen from art trafficking were recovered by two international operations in 2020. It’s impossible to know how big this market really is due, in part, because of fake paperwork aEUR”. Also, it is difficult to determine how much money these antiquities actually make.
“I can see artifacts that have been looted, and we can show them off to experts so they can make an estimate of their value. Al-Azm said that we have never seen the entire picture. He is also co-director of Antiquities Trafficking and Heritage Anthropology Research.
It is evident that Western collectors buy without fear of reprisal, despite existing provisions in international law prohibiting pillaging and including it as a war criminal. Pillaging is also a crime in the United States and most European countries.
The system allows buyers and sellers to operate with little, if any, oversight thanks to Hawala, online sales and freeports. These are places that store shipments and can be used for funds transfers.
Antonia David, Legal Program Manager for The Docket stated that dealers and galleries who finance terrorist groups through their purchases should also be held responsible.
David emphasized what The Docket recommends as a universal standard for these cases: “You don’t necessarily need to prove that accomplices shared the same intent and motive as the direct perpetrator.” For galleries and dealers, they don’t need to know that the antiquities were being paid for in order to finance an armed group. They paid.
Buyers must be controlled
Sam Andrew Hardy is the Heritage Management Organization’s head of illicit trade research. He said there are already ways for people to be punished for dealing in art stolen during the Holocaust.
“So why not do that for antiquities lost during other terrible massacres or occupations?” He asked.
A dealer or collector who is caught with looted property often gets a slap on their wrist and a fine. They are then required to return the item.
Hardy said that when asked to return objects, they are often kept anonymous to save their blushes or do it publicly and are praised and praised for their ethical behaviour.
Neistat also shares this frustration. Neistat shared that frustration with reporters, saying that even though dealers are often caught multiple times, they often see an increase in business because the only thing that market cared about was authenticity. The best proof is the return of the items.
She replied that dealers and collectors are not high-priority criminals due to their many connections and influence.
“Some cases dissolve… Neistat said that there isn’t even a formal declaration that the case has been dismissed. “And we’re talking about people with very good connections in many of these cases.”
The Docket hopes that its investigations will lead to prosecutions and the dismantling of the market aEUR”, a goal Al-Azm believes is more urgent than most people realize.
He said, “Let’s me help you move it up to the top of our list.” “The next time someone hijacks an airplane and flies into buildings, it could be funded with some rich white guy buying mosaics.”
