Wikimedia CH/Afghanistan Antiquities at Risk
Afghanistan Cultural Heritage at Risk
HELP US PROTECT AFGHANISTAN HERITAGE
FROM ILLICIT TRAFFIC
The country and its rich and diverse cultural heritage is once again facing the threat of looting and illegal traffic. In situations such as these, there is no specific item that is at risk. Vandals and thieves will profit of the instability in Afghanistan to steal or destroy cultural heritage for a variety of reasons, including personal gain or political motivation. To protect it, we need to work together.
In 2006, ICOM published a Red List of Afghan of cultural objects and art pieces that are particularly vulnerable, from Buddhist statues and paintings to Islamic manuscripts. The Red Lists which ICOM publish for many other regions of the world include images provided by museums to illustrate the objects.
They are used by the police, customs officers, auction houses, museums, and citizens to identify these objects and prevent their commercialization in the black market. In particular, the Red List for Afghanistan helped identify, recover, and return 1,500 pieces to the National Museum in Kabul. The current situation in Afghanistan might undo all this work and further threaten the cultural heritage of the country.
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An initiative by ICOM International and Wikimedia CH
The ICOM Red Lists
- The ICOM Red Lists present the categories of cultural objects that can be subjected to theft and traffic. They help individuals, organisations and authorities, such as police or customs officials, identify objects at risk and prevent them from being illegally sold or exported.
- It is important to highlight that a Red List is not a list of stolen objects. The cultural goods depicted on the lists are inventoried objects within the collections of recognized institutions and they serve to illustrate the categories of cultural goods most vulnerable to illicit traffic.
- If you find a suspicious object being sold or transported through customs, please refer to the ICOM Red List of Afghan Antiquities at Risk, ask questions about the provenance and, if in doubt, contact the authorities.
- ICOM has been publishing Red Lists since the year 2000, with the scientific collaboration of national and international experts and the unwavering support of dedicated sponsors, to cover the most vulnerable areas of the world in terms of illicit trafficking of cultural objects.
- The lists are published in different languages according to the context of each List. Among other success stories, these tools have contributed to the identification, recovery and restitution of thousands of cultural objects, including over 1,500 objects successfully sent back to the Kabul National Museum in Afghanistan between 2007 and 2009.
- The Red Lists are freely available in digital format, while booklets are distributed primarily to law enforcement agencies. Everyone involved in the trade or protection of cultural objects is invited to consult and disseminate the Lists in order to maximize the use and impact of this internationally recognized tool.
How to participate & contribute
We have set up an outreach dashboard for this project, where you can share with us your work. If you want to enroll and assign the articles or categories you are working on, click on the action button below.
Please share in this section your activities and projects as well as resources and links if you have relevant information and access to digitized material, research and collections related to the Afghanistan Cultural Heritage at risk initiative.
- Francine Tissot: Catalogue of the National Museum of Afghanistan, 1931-1985. UNESCO, Paris 2006, ISBN 978-92-3-104030-6, 539 p. (unesco.org with PDF).
Contact information and
Wikimedia Chapters in the world supporting this initiative
Wikimedia Chapters in the world supporting this initiative
| WM chapter | For voluntary community | For cultural institutions | For communication and press |
|---|---|---|---|
| WMCH | info wikimedia.ch
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debora.lopomo wikimedia.ch
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kerstin.sonnekalb wikimedia.ch
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