Today marks the International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property, a topic at the heart of the work of the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing.
Held every year on 14 November, the International Day against Illicit Trafficking in Cultural Property “reminds the world that theft, looting and illicit trafficking of cultural property takes place in every country, robbing people of their culture, identity and history, and that we have to work together to combat this crime”, according to the UNESCO website.
What is the EU GF doing to tackle illicit trafficking and conflict looting?
Folllowing the introductory webinar held on 27 April 2021, the project has been working on the preparation of a series of global awareness events on blood antiquities trafficking, conflict looting and art theft.
They will pave the way to the production of a research paper outlining current trends and methodologies to disrupt ML/TF networks involved in those traffics.
What are the areas of work in this regard?
- ⚠️Managing the differences in Civil Law -v- Common law jurisdictions.
- ⚠️Maximising the EU protocol AML/CFT legislation and criminal legislation. (POCA, Civil recovery, Confiscation Orders)
- ⚠️Sharing of Financial intelligence between FIUs and LEAs.
- ⚠️Raising awareness of the differences in AML /CFT – cultural legislation, ( e.g. in some jurisdictions only art dealers and not individuals are subject to AML /CFT legislation, thereby investigative agencies may have to utilise criminal legislation to prove an AML/CFT offence )
This project is funded by the European Union.