Τhe Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Mr Crispin Blunt MP, and Η.Ε. Ioannis Kasoulides, Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), invite you to attend:

“Strengthening international capacities for the protection of cultural property and for preventing the illicit trafficking of cultural goods”

Hosted by Crispin BLUNT MP, Chairman, Foreign Affairs Select Committee
Guest Speakers:
-Ioannis KASOULIDES, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Cyprus
Chairman of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe
-Lord RENFREW of Kaimsthorn FBA FSA

Thursday, 16 March 2017
Portcullis House (Grimond Room), Houses of Parliament, Westminster
Victoria Embankment, London SW1A 2LW
10:00-11:00a.m.*
RSVP by 13/3/17 at E: esavvidou@mfa.gov.cy

This event will focus on the need to enhance international cooperation to tackle illicit trafficking of cultural goods. In recent years we have witnessed a surge on attacks against great monuments of global historical and cultural significance. In Iraq and Syria, from Nimrud to Palmyra, Daesh terrorists have systematically plundered the region’s cultural heritage, deliberately destroying important archaeological sites and profiting from the illicit trade of valuable excavated artefacts. Governments and national Parliaments, including the Parliament of the United Kingdom, are discussing ways to mitigate this phenomena and promote the protection of cultural property from armed conflict areas by ratifying the relevant 1954 Hague Convention.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe decided in March 2016 to prepare a new Convention on Offences Relating to Cultural Property. This new Convention will become the only international treaty focusing on criminal measures and sanctions on illicit activities – such as the destruction and trafficking of cultural goods, while also providing a complete set of measures to foster international co-operation between States to better prevent and combat the illicit trafficking and the deliberate destruction of cultural property.

*Please arrive at Portcullis House at 09:40am to allow time for security check.