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The World Customs Organization's 2019 Illicit Trade Report is out. A few quick take aways from a quick read, though i will have to delve in deeper. http://www.wcoomd.org/en/media/newsroom/2020/july/the-wco-issues-its-2019-illicit-trade-report.aspx
"In 2019, the WCO CEN recorded 227 cases involving the
trafficking of cultural objects, comprised of 271 seizures,
from 34 countries."
trafficking of cultural objects, comprised of 271 seizures,
from 34 countries."
The number of customs and border security actions on cultural property has increased, which is exactly what was hoped to be seen given the large-scale training workshops and advocacy in recent years. It looks like an increase (as a whole) of c. 30% from 2018 to 2019.
Archaeological artifacts still appear to be difficult to identify for customs. It is a common issue - gauging what is legal from age/declaration. In training workshops we advise agents to create a paper trail when seizure is not poss, which might be occurring despite the data.
The number of fossils seized is larger than cultural property. It would be interesting to know the size of the fossil vs culture trades - my hypothesis is that the number of fossil seizures are higher due to the fact they are easier to identify.
