Yemen Signs International Treaty Denouncing Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Artifacts

Yemen recently agreed to an international treaty on stolen or illegally exported cultural objects. The treaty is aimed at remedying one of the main weaknesses of the 1970 UNESCO Convention against illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts.

On October 7, the Republic of Yemen acceded to the UNIDROIT Convention, along with the compulsory declarations. The UNIDROIT Convention seeks to fight the illegal sale and purchase of cultural property by encouraging buyers to do their due diligence during the acquisition process.

The country will now adopt mechanisms that facilitate the protection, claim, repatriation, and return of stolen and illegally exported cultural objects. The treaty will enter into effect for Yemen on next year on April 1.

The signing of the UNIDROIT Convention followed Yemen’s ratification of the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage in June, which went into effect on September 5.

Yemen’s Ambassador to UNESCO, Mohammed Jumeh, signed the treaty on behalf of the Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Dr. Jumeh noted that Yemen will gain the necessary legal support to recover cultural artifacts in case of illegal removal from the country,” stated a press release from UNIDROIT.

The looting of cultural items from Yemen is taking place due to a highly unstable political environment and humanitarian crisis resulting from a devastating civil war. Large areas of the country are vulnerable to corruption, high fuel prices, and food insecurity. A poor overall economy has also impacted Yemen.

As a result, the country’s archaeological sites, ancient cities, and pre-Islamic artifacts have become easy targets for looters and unscrupulous art dealers. Many local cultural institutions also lack the resources to protect heritage sites from the organized theft fueling the international black market for trafficked antiquities. This also results in custody challenges for items which are identified for repatriation.

Last February, the US repatriated 77 artifacts to Yemen. The works are being kept at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art in Washington, D.C., due to ongoing civil war in the country. The Yemeni government also signed a two-year partnership with the Smithsonian, which will oversee the preservation and documentation of the group of antiquities, dating back to the 1st millennium BCE.

Last September, the Victoria & Albert Museum had similar agreement with Yemen for four ancient funerary stones dating back to 1000 BCE. And 14 sculptures repatriated from a private collection in New Zealand are on a long-term loan to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

The news of the treaty signing was first reported by the Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.