Undiplomatic immunity

After decades of passivity and indifference, governments worldwide are finally taking illicit antiquities trafficking seriously. But will this extend to curtailing the too-often-abused privileges of their own representatives?

Diplomatic bags are being used to smuggle antiquities, both in Afghanistan and elsewhere, according to the Dutch researcher Jos van Beurden. In an unpublished paper, he has gathered anecdotal evidence suggesting that diplomatic privileges are regularly abused.

The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations states that bags should “not be opened or detained”. Although the bag (or pouch) was traditionally used for correspondence, it can contain other items, and luggage of diplomats normally passes through customs without being searched. Professor Colin Renfrew has stated that diplomatic bags provide “an important route” for smuggling antiquities, and he has called for them to be used only for papers.

Professor Ahmad Hassan Dani, chairman of the Society for the Preservation of Afghanistan’s Cultural Heritage, was once asked about potential buyers of looted antiquities, and he responded: “Mostly foreign diplomats”. . .

Similar accusations have been made elsewhere. Masha Lafont, in a study on the illicit trade in Khmer art published two years ago, blames diplomats. Mr van Beurden says that the head of the Unesco office in Phnom Penh told him a year ago: “Diplomats are a bigger danger than tourists. Very many diplomats have their houses full of ancient Cambodian objects. When they move to their next post, they probably take all of it with them.”

Posted by David on January 22, 2007 4:14 PM