Unesco Courier

Download or read book The UNESCO Courier, October-December 2020 written by UNESCO and published by United Nations. This book was released on 2020-11-01 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In spring 2020, the health crisis linked to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic brought the whole world to a standstill. But the illicit trafficking of cultural property has not stopped. On the contrary. Traffickers of cultural goods have taken advantage of reduced security at archaeological sites and museums to engage in illegal excavations and thefts, with impunity. The figures prove it: the attraction for mosaics, funerary urns, sculptures, statuettes, or ancient manuscripts has never been greater. The pressure of this demand has helped fuel the illegal market in artworks and antiquities, which now operates largely online – via platforms that often pay scant attention to the original provenance of the objects.