25 signatures reached
To: Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Saving Iraqi Heritage
To stop the trade of Iraqi antiquities in the UK and worldwide.
Why is this important?
We would like your support to stop the destruction and trade of Iraqi antiquities.
Iraqi artefacts are of critical importance, not only for the region but the heritage of the whole world because they are more than 5,000 years old.
This illicit trade in stolen artefacts could be worth 7-10 billion dollars worldwide and is possibly second to the arms and drugs trade. In Iraq, the artefacts are going through neighbouring countries such as Turkey and Jordan and then passing through transit countries that act as markets, final destinations might include US, UK and Switzerland.
We are asking the UK government to:-
1 - implement the UN Council Resolution 2199 of 2015.
and have recently asked the Iraqi government to:-
1 - set up a database of artefacts (demolished and remaining) and all sites.
2 – register all sites and have a trained police force to protect them.
However, the Iraqi Authorities are lacking the expertise and resources to do this as ISIS occupies some of the sites so are not under the control of the Iraqi government. If there is no demand for these ancient antiquities then there will be no supply.
Now we would like your support to condemn this destruction of our heritage and add your names and signature to our list of supporters.
