Congress Considers Cultural Property Protection Czar Post

THE ART NEWSPAPER
By Julia Halperin

The Islamic State allegedly permits the widespread ransacking of archaeological sites in Syria and Iraq and then cashes in by levying a tax on looters operating within its territory. Here, Free Syrian Army fighters walk in the Umayyad mosque of Old Aleppo, 15 December 2013. Photo: REUTERS/Molhem Barakat

WASHINGTON, DC---A new bill introduced in Washington, DC last week seeks to block looted Syrian cultural heritage from entering the US. The Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act asks Congress to appoint a cultural property protection czar and establish emergency import restrictions to protect endangered cultural patrimony. The bill aims to “deny terrorists and criminals the ability to profit from instability by looting the world of its greatest treasures,” says the congressman Eliot Engel, a Democrat from New York, in a statement. Engel is co-sponsoring the legislation with Chris Smith, a Republican from New Jersey. [link]