New body to combat looting and trafficking of antiquities

A national commission for combating looting and trafficking in cultural heritage has been given the green light by the cabinet.

The Committee will be composed of one representative each from the legal services, the ministries of communications and works, foreign affairs, education, and justice, the antiquities department, customs and the Church.

The commission’s responsibilities will be to examine documentation, make recommendations and conclude agreements with third countries to prevent theft and illegal import and export of artefacts and to maintain a database.

It will also help organise scientific conferences on all aspects of preventing the looting and illicit trafficking of cultural items, and liaise with EUROPOL, INTERPOL, EU CULTNET and other international organisations.

Committee members will be appointed by the minister of communications and works for five years. The body will be headed by the director of the department of antiquities.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.