To mark the third International Day Against Illicit Trafficking of Cultural Property, UNIDROIT participated in a high-level virtual panel discussion hosted by the Qatar National Library about the efforts to counter the sale and illegal circulation of antiquities and documentary heritage in the Middle East and North Africa.
Marina Schneider, Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT, together with Dr. Mounir Bouchenaki, Advisor to UNESCO and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), Dr. Zaki Aslan, Director and Regional Representative of the ICCROM-Sharjah Regional Conservation Center and Dr. Eleni Polymenopoulou, Associate Professor at HBKU’s College of Law discussed the various actions and instruments of their organisations aimed at fighting such illicit traffic.
Tan Huism, Executive Director of Qatar National Library, welcomed participants to the webinar and said “Although the illicit trafficking of cultural goods has reached unprecedented levels in recent years, the Library is strengthening its fight to stem this scourge through several initiatives and collaborations which aim to protect documentary heritage from being stolen, combat the illegal circulation of the cultural and historical item and provide educational and awareness-raising efforts on this important topic”. “I have absolute confidence in our ability to prevent the loss of rare and valuable heritage materials if we continue to collaborate with key regional and international organizations and professions to reach practical and realistic solutions that protect and preserve our heritage” she added.
UNIDROIT is a partner of the Himaya Project which, since 2020, has strengthened and coordinated efforts with international and regional organisations to combat illicit trafficking. Several initiatives are set to launch under the Himaya Project in 2023. These include cooperation with the General Authority of Customs in Qatar for capacity building of officers in the region, and the rollout of projects to combat the trafficking of antiquities in Afghanistan. In addition, Himaya has planned a regional awareness program for professionals about the risks of trafficking, and a collaboration with the Antiquities Trafficking and Heritage Anthropology Research (ATHAR) Project and Qatar Computing and Research Institute at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, to monitor trafficking activities on social media channels. The Library will also continue hosting seminars and training courses to raise awareness around the ongoing illicit trafficking issue and hopes global entities will cooperate to protect world history.
UNIDROIT is also a partner of the project “Enhancing legal and institutional framework of cultural heritage protection in Arab countries” together with ICCOM Sharjah, UNESCO Doha Office and INTERPOL which is, among other projects, about to launch on online course for Arab countries.
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Professor Iacopo Donati is the UNIDROIT/Bank of Italy Chair Holder and is mainly responsible for assisting in the Bank Insolvency project. He is Professor of Corporate and Insolvency Law at the University of Siena, and coordinates the research project ‘Pro.Re.Ba.’ (Proportionating rules on bank crisis prevention and management to the case of retail banks), which has received funding from the Italian Ministry of University. He has previously taught corporate law at the University of Venice ‘Ca’ Foscari’, at the University of Florence and at the University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’.
rtered Institute of Arbitrators (London). He further holds a post-graduate diploma in law from the Kenya School of Law. Allan is also a scholar from the Hague Academy of International Law.
rofessor Ignacio Tirado was appointed Secretary-General by the Governing Council at its 97th session, and officially took office on 27 August 2018. A national of Spain, Professor Tirado (Commercial, Corporate and Insolvency Law, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid, Spain) holds a PhD from the Universities of Bologna and Autónoma de Madrid and an LLM from the University of London. Professor Tirado has been a Senior Legal Consultant at the World Bank’s Legal Vice-Presidency and Financial Sector Practice for more than nine years, having also consulted for the IMF on insolvency related matters as well as for the Asian Development Bank on commercial legal reform.
A Swedish national, Ms Lena Peters grew up in Italy where she attended an English school. In 1978 she took her Juris Kandidatexamen at Stockholm University followed by a Master of Laws from King’s College, London (1979). Since 1985 she has been with UNIDROIT, first as Research Officer, lastly as Principal Legal Officer, her main duties being Secretary to the Working Group for the Preparation of Principles of International Commercial Contracts, Secretary to the Study Group on Franchising, Secretary to the Committee of Governmental Experts on Franchising.She also collaborated on the project for the preparation of the ELI-Unidroit Model European Rules of Civil Procedure. She is currently Managing Editor of the Uniform Law Review and responsible for publications at UNIDROIT.
Marina Schneider is Principal Legal Officer and Treaty Depositary at UNIDROIT. She studied law at the University of Strasbourg (France) and Paris I – Panthéon Sorbonne. She joined the UNIDROIT in 1987 and was involved in the elaboration and French versions of most UNIDROIT instruments since. She is in charge of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects and of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. She is the author of the Explanatory Report of the 1995 Convention and many articles on the Convention and other international instruments in the field. Ms Schneider is also responsible for the project on private collections and for the UNIDROIT Convention Academic Project (UCAP). She is member of the Board of the International Society for Research on Art and Cultural Heritage Law (ISCHAL).
Professor of Commercial Law, Carlos III University of Madrid. Currently, Sir Roy Goode Scholar at UNIDROIT, Rome, 2021-2022. Chair of Excellence 2017-2018 at University of Oxford (Uc3m- Santander Program), affiliated to Harris Manchester College. Previously Distinguished Visiting Professor and fellow of a number of Academic Institutions. Arbitrator of Madrid Court of Arbitration. Member of ELI (European Law Institute) Council and Executive Committee. Member of the Expert Group of the European Commission on Liability and New Technologies and member of the Expert Group of the European Observatory of Platform Economy; the International Academy of Commercial and Consumer Law; the expert group of the Inclusive Global Legal Innovation Platform for Online Dispute Resolution – UNCITRAL and Hong Kong Department of Justice. Expert of the UNIDROIT Study Group on the MAC Protocol of the Cape Town Convention on International Interests. Delegate of Spain to UNIDROIT for the adoption of the Protocol, delegate of Spain in Working Group VI of UNCITRAL on secured transactions and in Working Group IV on Electronic Commerce. Member of UNIDROIT Working Groups on Enforcement and Warehouse Receipts.
William Brydie-Watson is an Australian lawyer who specialises in secured transactions law and private international law. Before joining UNIDROIT, William was a government lawyer in the Private International Law and International Arbitration section of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department, where he worked primarily on treaty negotiation and the implementation of private international law treaties in Australia. At UNIDROIT, he is primarily responsible for the implementation of the Mining, Agriculture and Construction (MAC Protocol) to the 2001 Cape Town Convention on International Interests in Mobile Equipment and the development of a Model Law on Factoring. William also serves as UNIDROIT’s liaison with the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and as manager of the Institute’s Scholarship and Internship Programme. Admitted to practice in New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, he has a Bachelor of Arts (honours), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from the Australian National University. William also lectures on International Secured Transactions Law at the Eotvos Lorand Faculty of Law in Budapest.