Strengthening Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Responses to Protect Cultural Property, Especially with Regard to Its Trafficking

E/RES/2013/31View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the Economic and Social Council, under agenda item 14c Crime prevention and criminal justice, published in 2013.

What other versions does this mandate have?

2 versions · 2011–2013

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2013	E/RES/2013/31	Strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice responses to protect cultural property, especially with regard to its trafficking	1,694	—
2011	E/RES/2011/42	Strengthening crime prevention and criminal justice responses to protect cultural property, especially with regard to its trafficking	—	–

What subjects does this mandate have?

13 subjects

Cooperation Between Organizations Crime Prevention Criminal Justice Cultural Property Protection Cultural Research Data Collection Guidelines Illicit Traffic Organized Crime Public Information Technical Cooperation Treaty Review Websites

What’s in this document?

16 operative paragraphs

Recommends to the General Assembly the adoption of the following draft resolution:

Requests Member States to continue their efforts to effectively strengthen crime prevention and criminal justice responses to protect cultural property, especially with regard to its trafficking, including within the framework of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized CrimeError: Reference source not found and the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice;

Recalls its invitation to Member States, in its resolution 66/180, to protect cultural property and prevent trafficking in such property by introducing appropriate legislation, including, in particular, procedures for its seizure, recovery and return, as well as by promoting education, launching awareness-raising campaigns, locating and inventorying such property, adopting adequate security measures, developing the capacities and human resources of monitoring institutions, such as the police and customs services, and of the tourism sector, involving the media and disseminating information on the theft and pillaging of cultural property;

Invites Member States to consider, as appropriate, reviewing their legal frameworks, with a view to providing the most extensive international cooperation possible to fully address the issue of trafficking in cultural property, and also invites Member States to make trafficking in cultural property, including stealing and looting at archaeological and other cultural sites, a serious crime, as defined in article 2 of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, with a view to fully utilizing that Convention for the purpose of extensive international cooperation in fighting all forms and aspects of trafficking in cultural property and related offences;

Welcomes the recommendations of the second meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group on protection against trafficking in cultural property, held in Vienna from 27 to 29 June 2012;

Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to solicit from Member States and relevant international organizations information and statistical data on trafficking in cultural property, in particular on trafficking that involves organized criminal groups, to analyse that information and report on the findings to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its twenty-third session, and to develop in coordination with Member States an appropriate research methodology to study trafficking in cultural property, in particular the participation of organized criminal groups;

Invites Member States that have not yet done so to consider designating contact points to facilitate international cooperation within the application of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, for the purpose of preventing and combating trafficking in cultural property, and to report such information to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime for inclusion in the directory of competent national authorities;

Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue to provide technical assistance to Member States in the area of protection against trafficking in cultural property and related offences, upon request and in coordination with relevant international organizations, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), including legislative drafting assistance in order to strengthen crime prevention and criminal justice responses in this field, and to develop practical assistance tools for that purpose;

Also requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, within its mandate and in close cooperation with relevant international organizations, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and INTERPOL, to raise awareness of the issue of trafficking in cultural property and related offences at the regional and international levels, including in the context of its public service announcements on organized crime and through workshops, seminars and similar events, thereby promoting synergies with the relevant entities of the United Nations crime prevention and criminal justice network;

Further requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to create a portal on its website containing all documents, tools and relevant information regarding trafficking in cultural property produced by the Office, including a link to the Database of National Cultural Heritage Laws of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the INTERPOL database on stolen works of art;

Welcomes the progress made in exploring the development of guidelines on crime prevention and criminal justice responses with respect to trafficking in cultural property, and stresses the need for their expeditious finalization, bearing in mind the importance of the matter for all Member States;

Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to reconvene the expert group on protection against trafficking in cultural property for Member States to review and revise the draft guidelines, taking into account an updated compendium from the Secretariat of comments made by Member States on the draft guidelines, with a view to finalizing and submitting the draft guidelines to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its twenty-third session;

Requests the Secretariat, pursuant to resolution 6/1 of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, entitled “Ensuring effective implementation of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the Protocols thereto”,Error: Reference source not found to bring the guidelines on crime prevention and criminal justice responses with respect to trafficking in cultural property, after their adoption, to the attention of the Conference of the Parties;

Requests the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to continue its review of the model treaty for the prevention of crimes that infringe on the cultural heritage of peoples in the form of movable property,¹³ taking into account the views and comments expressed by Member States,Error: Reference source not found and requests Member States and relevant international organizations that have not yet done so to submit to the Secretariat their comments on the model treaty;

¹³Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, Havana, 27 August–7 September 1990: report prepared by the Secretariat (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.91.IV.2), chap. I, sect. B, resolution 1, annex.

Invites Member States and other donors to provide extrabudgetary resources for the purposes described above, in accordance with the rules and procedures of the United Nations;

Requests the Secretary-General to report to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its twenty-third session on the implementation of the present resolution.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

What other versions does this mandate have?

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What’s in this document?

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