Home > CULTURE - Standard setting activities - Updated: 03-07-2002 11:18 am
In order for UNESCO to undertake standard setting activities, Afghanistan will be encouraged to join
the Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (1954), together with its two Protocols, as well as the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownershipof Cultural Property (1970). These instruments will assist the Afghan authorities in ensuring better protection of cultural property both in times of war and peace. Afghan participation in the 1970 Convention will enable the national authorities to fightthe illicit trafficking in cultural property more efficiently.
Regional meetings on the fight against the illicit traffic of cultural property are also planned, and the relevant Afghan authorities are encouraged to participate in these. Such meetingscould be modelled on similar meetings organized by UNESCO in Cambodia and should target cultural-heritage professionals and law-enforcement officers, for example, police and customs officers. Finally, the Afghan authorities will be encouraged to take part in the work of the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in case of Illicit Appropriation in order to recuperate missing cultural property that cannot be recuperated under the 1970 Convention or under other existing agreements.
