UNIDROIT participates in a Training for the Judiciary in Albania on the Fight against Illicit trafficking in Cultural Property

On 16 and 17 January 2025, the UNESCO Venice office organized a training for the judiciary in Albania to raise the awareness on the fight against illicit trafficking in cultural property at the request of the Albanian High Judicial Council and General Prosecutors Office. This training was a follow-up to the capacity-building workshop held from 21 to 25 October 2024 in Tirana in the framework of the implementation of the EU-UNESCO project “Fighting against the illicit trafficking of cultural property in the Western Balkans”. More than 80 judges and prosecutors, as well as cultural heritage professionals, attended.

The overall objective of the action is to foster regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations through enhancing the protection of cultural heritage in the Western Balkans and UNIDROIT explained the mechanisms of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally exported Cultural Objects which judges will implement in case of claims for restitution or return. The question of accession to the 1995 Convention by Albania was also discussed in the framework of the Cultural Strategy 2019-2025 and in particular its specific objective 1 – “Creating a stable legal and institutional environment for the development of art and culture” which indicates as a priority accession to international conventions that will enable, among others, the operationalization of the framework regulatory in general and the strengthening of specific elements defined by law.

 

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