United Nations, May 31: Unesco will be launching a major bid to recover priceless artifacts stolen from Iraqi museums following collapse of the Saddam Hussein regime and urged the Security Council to make it mandatory for all member states to ban their import. Noting that 97 nations have so far signed 1970 convention against trafficking in cultural goods, Unesco director-general Koichiro Matsuura told reporters yesterday that a council resolution would be legally binding on all the 191 member states. The most important step in the effort to recover these pieces of art, he said, is to ensure that they do not leave Iraq in first place.
Stressing the need for an international effort to recover looted antiquities, he said Unesco is negotiating with the United States on sending an assessment mission to Iraq this month. Matsura met secretary-general Kofi Annan last evening to discuss the issue.
It is essential, he said, to establish a database of Iraq's cultural heritage as soon a possible so that art dealers and others know which pieces had been stolen.
The database, he said, would be distributed to soldiers to help them in recovering and protecting the antiquities. Besides, Baghdad, Unesco would like to visit other important cultural sites including Ashur, Nasara, Hatara, Masur and Basra.
Unesco has already contacted the international police organization Interpol, world customs organization and the international confederation of art dealers in this connection, Matsuura said.
Bureau Report