The Minister of Justice, Abd al -Latif Wehbe, stressed on Monday that activating the legal requirements related to the protection of cultural property and combating illegal trafficking in it requires “work to enhance the capabilities of institutional actors and law enforcement devices, such as the Customs Corporation,” explaining that the latter “plays an important role in the face of smuggling of cultural pieces and preventing their transportation through border outlets in illegal ways.”
Wehbe, in a speech during the opening session of the works of the international conference on “the role of customs agencies in combating illegal trafficking in cultural property”, which is hosted by the “ISESCO” headquarters in Rabat, until next July 5, indicated that among the aforementioned agencies also “judicial and security institutions, and the rest of the institutions and departments concerned with the protection of cultural property, according to the laws and regulations in effect.”
The same government official stated that the matter must be “by deepening the perceptions of law enforcement devices, strengthening their capabilities and qualifying them to possess legal qualifications and intellectual skills necessary for the optimal download of legal requirements related to combating illegal trafficking in cultural property, in line with international practices in this context.”
The minister believes that combating the aforementioned type of crimes also requires “the adoption of mechanisms of international judicial cooperation in the judicial and security apartment”, especially as it “is often formed a transient criminal behavior of national borders, within the framework of gangs and criminal organizations, and in fraudulent and professional ways that require confrontation with the adoption of special research technologies by the competent security and judicial services”, in its expression.
Moroccan legal initiatives
The Minister of Justice did not miss in his speech that the Kingdom initiated, “in the context of keeping pace with international trends in the field of cultural property protection, to ratify all agreements issued in this framework, and to conclude bilateral agreements with some countries in the field of combating illegal trafficking in cultural property and their recovery.” It also sought to “the suitability of national legislation with the international legal framework and its development to respond to the current challenges.”
Through this convenience, the Kingdom has been subjected to “enhancing the capabilities of law enforcement devices to fight the phenomenon of illegal trafficking in cultural property, control its perpetrators, and reduce impunity,” according to Wehbe, beneficial in this regard with the issuance of “the first law during the protection period in 1912 concerned with preserving old and historical antiquities and writings”, followed by several related legal texts.
The last of these laws was, as the official reminded the same, “Law No. 33.22 related to the protection of heritage for the year 2025 ″, indicating that“ it came with modern and developed requirements in the field of heritage protection in all its varieties, in addition to some of the restraining requirements mentioned in the criminal law group or in some special criminal laws. ”
“Destructive” action
Mohamed Mahdi Bensaid, Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, explained the beginning that “illegal trafficking in cultural property is an organized crime against cultural heritage,” he said that the Kingdom led by King Mohammed VI, “which attaches special importance to cultural heritage, realizes the exceptional value of cultural property; it is not just artifacts or artistic works, but rather live testimonies on successive civilizations and common memory of humanity.”
Bensaid added, in his speech during the same session, that “these treasures have become a target of organized criminal networks that take advantage of conflicts and disputes, and benefit from legal and technological voids, to smuggle them from their original homelands,” stressing that “illegal trafficking in cultural property is not just an economic crime, but rather a sabotage that affects the collective memory of the people, strengthens terrorism and organized crime, and obstructs development efforts Sustainable. ”
Morocco is fortified
In this regard, the same minister, who attended Morocco, led by the King’s leadership, stated “proactive and decisive steps to confront this phenomenon”, pointing to strengthening the legal and legislative framework in line with the relevant international agreements, especially the UNESCO Agreement of 1970, as well as the intensification of digitization efforts and the inventory of cultural property, and added: “Today, a new law entered into the protection of cultural heritage into effect, with new and important requirements of the limit One of the practices threatened with this heritage.
As for the operational level, we focus on strengthening the capabilities of our security and judicial apparatus in the field of investigation and prosecution of the perpetrators of these crimes, in close cooperation with international security institutions and partner international organizations, “Bensaid added, noting that Morocco has previously carried out recovery of cultural property in cooperation with friendly countries such as the United States of America and the Chile Republic.
The spokesman called for “narrowing the screws on black markets and tightening control over technical auctions that may be a cover for washing these property”, with “launching initiatives to support the affected countries, especially those that suffer from conflicts, in their efforts to protect their heritage and restore what was stolen from them”; Besides “exploiting and documenting modern technology, such as artificial intelligence and Blockchain, in tracking and documenting the origin of cultural property.”
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