THE ILLICIT TRADE AND TRAFFICKING OF CULTURAL PROPERTY: DEMAND, LEGISLATIVE, AND TRANSNATIONALITY PARADIGMS FROM THE GCC REGION

Abstract

The looting and trafficking of cultural property is an age-old issue. (Szopa, 2005) Cultural property looting has been recorded during ancient times, the Napoleonic wars, the revolutions, the colonial and imperial periods, the World War II and the more recent wars in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen. (Cuno & Weiss, 2022; Dalby, 2019; Higgins, 2019; Novak, 2018; O'Keefe, 2006; Parzinger, 2022) The 21st century's rapid technological revolution, advent of social media, and the Arab Spring, have sky-rocketed cultural property trafficking occurring in conflict zones and much of this trafficking has moved to online platforms. (Al-Azm & Paul, 2019, 2020) Observing that online cultural property traffickers have links with armed nonstate actors who exploit cultural property to finance armed conflict and terrorism, the involvement of individuals from the GCC states in cultural property trafficking occurring through the certain social media platforms are examined. Studying the role played by the GCC region in the cultural property traffickingconflict funding nexus, the dissertation appraises the interest, demand, reasons, and consequences of involvement of the GCC region in the nexus. Cultural property trafficking does not create conflicts, but provides the financial means to prolong existing conflicts. (Al-Azm, 2015a, 2015b, 2015c, 2017; Losson, 2016) The new terminology 'cultural property trafficking-conflict funding nexus', introduced in this dissertation, is related to the prolongation of existing conflicts through conflict funding, rather than the creation of new conflicts. GCC states fall on the transit and demand side of the art and antiquities markets. (Al-Azm, 2023) This doctoral research shows that the GCC states are buying cultural property originating from the neighboring countries experiencing conflict through various channels including social media platforms. Exploring how multi-billion-dollar social media platforms are facilitating, fueling and financially benefiting from the involvement of the GCC states in cultural property trafficking, the dissertation will make policy recommendations to combat online cultural property trafficking. Hypothesizing that the concentration of wealth and affluent clientele, proximity to conflict zones, ease of cultural property trafficking through social media, and lack of compliance with international cultural property protection conventions and legislations and/or its implementation have contributed to the GCC states acting as transit hubs and end buyers for illicitly acquired cultural property, this dissertation appraises national patrimony laws in the GCC and studies the in-practice compliance of the GCC states to international cultural property protection resolutions and conventions.