Australian Archaeological Association Inc. Calls for Protection of Iraq's Cultural Property

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The Australian Archaeological Association (AAA) urgently calls on the Australian Government to help implement and maintain protective measures for the monuments and portable cultural heritage of Iraq (ancient Mesopotamia). Iraq contributes significantly to UNESCO efforts for the protection of cultural heritage and has a world-renowned Antiquities Department.\r\n\r\n\r\nThe AAA joins the World Archaeological Congress, Archaeological Institute of America and like bodies in alarm at the reported damage to, and looting of, irreplaceable archaeological material in museums at Basra, Baghdad and Mosul. There have been reports of destruction of items as old as 40,000 years as well as of numerous artefacts associated with cultures as profoundly important to human history as the Assyrians and the Babylonians, the Sumerians, the Medes, the Persians and the Greeks.

Current press reports (e.g. from the Independent, Sydney Morning Herald) note that Iraq's National Archaeological Museum has been extensively damaged and that the destruction of antiquities may be at levels not seen since the Second World War. This poses a direct challenge to the coalition forces given the provisions of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, and its First Protocol. The illegal sale and trade of antiquities must also be stopped in accordance with the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970) to which the USA, UK and Australia are signatories.

The AAA recommends as a matter of urgent international priority that:

• Senior officers of coalition forces in Iraq liaise immediately and in depth with key individuals in the Ministry of Culture and Department of Antiquities of Iraq,
• The provisions of the UN and UNESCO and their Conventions to protect cultural property are acted upon by the coalition forces and transitional government in Iraq;
• The occupying powers take substantial steps to foster the future protection of Iraq's cultural heritage in collaboration with appropriate Iraqi professionals and international experts; and
• That the coalition governments also take steps to provide police resources to track down stolen materials and to discourage purchasers with appropriate penalties.