Tirana Times
TIRANA, July 18 – The South East European Heritage, a network of non-governmental NGOs from SEE, has made a public appeal to Albanian authorities to make the necessary legal changes that would consider illicit trade of works of art a heavy crime. In a meeting held in Tirana last week, representatives of the SEE Heritage Network stressed the need for the cultural heritage law to be amended with issues related to higher security and monitoring of cultural heritage sites and museums or galleries. It urged Albanian authorities to recognize private collections as a legal category in order for them to be listed and properly safeguarded.
“Responsible authorities should increase resources for training civil servants in matters of prevention and fight against illicit trade, as well as ensure exchange of experience and introduction of exemplary developed models, i.e Italian, French, UK model. Information on illicitly traded cultural objects should be made public, and participatory measures should include tools such as emergency phone number, in order to combat their potential sale,” said the NGOs.Taking into the consideration the case of Albania and having in mind that according to UNESCO the entire SEE Region is affected by the illegal trafficking of cultural property, the SEE Heritage Network, appealed to the Governments of the region to improve the implementation of the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Culture Property (1970). “We urge the decision makers and political structures, responsible institutions and organizations, to further develop and fully apply all necessary mechanisms and legal means to combat this problem. Considering cultural heritage a valuable resource of the entire region, we ask SEE countries to enhance their cooperation in this area and work jointly upon raising awareness about this problem among the public in the region.”
A public debate on “Illicit Trade of Works of Art – Case Albania was organized in Tirana, on 13th of July 2011, as a part of the 9th annual meeting of South East European (SEE) Heritage Network. The topic of the debate was developed as a result of current examples of theft of works of art that had happened, namely in Church in Voskopoja or Museum in Elbasan.
At the meeting in Tirana, the public debate was attended by professionals from Albanian institutions and general public, while representatives of UNESCO, Prime Minister’s office, Center of Inventory of Cultural Wealth, Institute of Monuments of Culture, State Police have shared some of their day to day experiences through presentations.
The South East European (SEE) Heritage is a network of non-governmental organizations from South East Europe, established in 2006.
The mission of the SEE Heritage network is to work towards protecting and promoting the common cultural heritage with the aim of encouraging sustainable development of the region.The initiative to establish a network of NGOs working on cultural heritage was started by the Swedish organization CHwB (Cultural Heritage without Borders), an NGO that works in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo and regionally in the Western Balkans. CHwB has started its activities in recognizing the NGOs that will try to create a common ground of acting. Initially, twelve partner NGOs from the region (Albania, BiH, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia) expressed their willingness to meet and to exchange views and experiences with their colleagues.
