Jan 30, 2010

A ban on trade of Haitian artefact

UNESCO is calling for a ban on trade of Haitian artefacts to prevent pillaging of the country’s cultural heritage. In the state Haiti is right now, it might be easy to steal from museums and historical buildings. But with the state of the infrastrcuture, exporting might be quite complicated. It might be easy to control what's left of airports and ports, but at the same time corruption should keep the borders porous. And we all know that corruption makes art smuggling possible (Fisman and Wei 2009).

This is probably why UNESCO is also seeking the support of the international community and of art market and museum professionals in enforcing the ban. In any case, gansgters will be gangsters, and this ban is too hard to enforce to matter.

1 comment:

Fleury said...

Well, after the us-american christian missionaries that tried to kidnap children that STILL HAD parents alive....

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6105L620100201

Art wouldn't worry me.