Blue Shield International Emblem
Blue Shield International
Modern Day Looting
Eighty years after the Nazi's plunder of Europe's most precious cultural objects, the expectations of provenance remain an unfulfilled and ethical failure of global responsibility.
"The Blue Shield network, often referred to as the cultural equivalent of the Red Cross, was formed in response to the changes in international law, and today works globally to protect cultural heritage in emergency situations."
~Blue Shield International
"Although the widespread destruction of cultural property during World War II led to an international convention designed to promote its protection (the 1954 Hague Convention), it wasn't until 1996 that the Blue Shield was founded."
~Blue Shield International
"Committed to the protection of the world's cultural property, and is concerned with the protection of cultural and natural heritage, tangible and intangible, in the event of armed conflict, natural- or human-made disaster."
~Article 2.1, Blue Shield Statutes 2016
Iraq
During, Operation Iraqi Freedom, there was ongoing art looting. Thousands of antiquities, dating back many generations, were abducted.
"A painful blow to Iraq's heritage."
Head of the National Museum Of Iraq's "Plastic Arts Directorate"~ajaonline
Iraqi Col. Ali Sabah, displays ancient artifacts Iraqi Security Forces discovered in 2008, during two raids in Northern Basra ~Sydney University
The Bassetki Statue (ca. 2250 B.C.), stolen from the Iraq Museum in April 2003 and recovered in Baghdad by U.S.-led military forces in November 2003. (M. Bogdanos) ~Ajaonline
Afghanistan
The Taliban destroyed Afghanistan's ancient Buddha statues.The area was a holy site for Buddhists on the ancient trading route between China and Europe known as the Silk Road.
"The heritage of Afghanistan is really part of world heritage and something that honestly belongs to all of us."
University of Chicago's Center for Cultural Heritage's Director ~American Journal of Archaeology
A statue of the Buddha in Bamiyan in 1997, before the Taliban destroyed it ~Jean Claude-Chapon / AFP via Getty Images, NBC News
The site of the Bamiyan Buddha statues ~Wakil Kohsar / AFP via Getty Images, NBC News
The Ukraine
"Russia has stolen more than 1.7 million pieces of Ukrainian cultural heritage since its full-scale invasion began," according to the Ukrainian Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications Mykola Tochytskyi. ~Artnews
Olga Honcharova, temporary director of the Kherson Regional Museum, shows empty glass display cases in Kherson ~New York Times
~Personal interview with Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, ~Gorden, May 9, 2025