The smuggling of antiquities around the world has been one of the sources of funding for terrorist and extremist groups over the past years, which requires a collective international move to agree on mechanisms to combat it.
In this context, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met, on Sunday, with the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, and the Executive Director-General of the United Nations Organization for Crime, Drugs and Terrorism, Ghada Wali.
According to the statement of the Egyptian presidency, Wali reviewed the axes of international cooperation under the umbrella of the United Nations Organization for Crime, Drugs and Terrorism in light of the recent regional developments in Afghanistan, especially with regard to arms smuggling, drug trafficking, and the exacerbation of terrorism and refugees, noting the ongoing preparations in cooperation with the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities Egypt to organize an international conference in 2022 focused on combating antiquities smuggling.
The Egyptian president affirmed his country’s support for the role of the United Nations in facing global and regional challenges related to combating crime, drugs and terrorism, as well as strengthening existing efforts to exchange experiences in areas related to the organization’s work to maintain global security and stability.
A member of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs and former Assistant Foreign Minister, Ambassador Rakha Ahmed Hassan, told Sky News Arabia that the link between the theft and smuggling of antiquities with the financing of terrorist elements was evident during the presence of these groups in Iraq and Syria during the past years, as there are thousands of artifacts. that were destroyed or stolen.
Hassan explained that ISIS and Jabhat al-Nasr smuggled antiquities in conjunction with the theft of other wealth in that country to buy weapons and finance their members, and they also destroyed antiquities that they could not carry, and it was a double sabotage, pointing out that during the invasion of Iraq, thousands of pieces were stolen and smuggled, and some of them took place. in the hands of extremist elements.
Hassan stressed that combating the financing of terrorist elements through the theft of antiquities requires that a conference be organized for them in the largest country of antiquities and open museums in the world, especially with the international efforts launched by Egypt to prevent antiquities smuggling, and an agreement with a number of countries on this.
Egypt has signed many agreements with a number of countries related to the recovery of smuggled artifacts, and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities recently announced the recovery of 5,266 artifacts from a number of countries around the world, including the United States, the Netherlands, France and Spain.
Regarding the importance of antiquities for terrorist organizations, the strategic expert Samir Ragheb explained, in an interview with “Sky News Arabia,” that there is a relationship between organized crime, money laundering and terrorist organizations, so the antiquities trade is one of the most profitable and most harmful trades because it affects the cultural heritage of humanity and not only the state. It is in it, and the value of antiquities is always in its presence in its place and not moving it to another place.
Ragheb indicated that Egypt is one of the countries that benefited the most from holding the conference on combating antiquities smuggling, especially if legislative amendments are required in coordination between countries, and the exchange of security information in cooperation with the United Nations Office for Drugs, Crime and Terrorism, so as to enable it to recover its smuggled antiquities and track criminal gangs, to contribute This is to prevent the financing of terrorist groups.
Ragheb pointed out that Egypt has an experience that the world commends with regard to combating money laundering and organized crime in all its forms, and it is cooperating with many countries to protect the international community from the dangers of terrorism.
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