As Audrey Azoulay, Director-General of UNESCO, recalled in the message for this anniversary ,“Cultural property is a vehicle of identity. Through it, communities define themselves and shape the narratives they pass on to future generations. The theft of cultural property strips communities of their collective memory and deprives humanity of part of its history”. In this context, the Director-General emphasized that protecting cultural heritage against the Illicit Trafficking is a shared responsibility of all States, institutions and society.
Within this framework, UNESCO Peru participated in the conference organized by the Ministry of Culture (Mincul) with a panel dedicated to the presentation of the results of the comparative study of the process of return and restitution of cultural assets in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) between 2015 and 2023. The panel was moderated by María Elena Ruesta, the Culture Specialist of UNESCO Peru and featured the participation of the specialist in Illicit Trafficking, Lina Nagel (Chile) and Blanca Alva, Director General of the museums of Mincul, and was responsible for the development of the study.
This study generated evidence to support regional cooperation, improve public policies and institutional capacities for protection and restitution of cultural heritage. The main findings:
- Mexico and Peru lead restitution efforts in the region, due to effective monitoring of the international market, the diplomatic–cultural coordination, and sustainable use of international tools and the implementation of campaigns of awareness-raising.
- Strong cultural – diplomatic coordination is the most effective mechanism for the restitution of cultural assets. This due to the use of bilateral treaties, with Peru being the country with the highest number of agreements, which is reflected in its high number of restitutions.
This investigation is part of a broader agenda that UNESCO promotes in Peru and the region of Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen the cooperation against the Illicit Trafficking and support the restitution of cultural heritage. These actions include the third edition of the Cusco Forum, held in the first semester of 2025 organized by UNESCO, the Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Peru. This forum brought together the representative of the Ministries of Culture of LAC and the national and international experts, including representatives from INTERPOL, UNODC, UNIDROIT and ICOM to debate trends and challenges related to the protection, return and restitution of assets, including topics like Artificial Intelligence, due diligence, organized crime and illicit circulation in emergency contexts.
As a result of the forum, the countries that participated requested the expansion and strengthening of the comparative study, inviting more states and enriching the qualitative analysis on the cultural significance of the returned properties. They also prepared a report compiling the contributions shared, which will be included in the digital library of MONDIACULT 2025, with the recommendations for regional actions.
These actions consolidated the leadership of the Peruvian State in the region and reaffirmed UNESCO’s commitment to guide and support countries in Latin America and the Caribbean through evidence-based cooperation and technical assistance and ensuring that stolen cultural heritage is returned to its communities of origin and its value sustainably restored.
READ MORE: https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-peru-presents-results-study-restitution-cultural-assets-lac-international-day-against-illicit
