Cambodia is turning the tide on looted statues, but some things cannot be returned

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Cambodia is turning the tide on looted statues, but some things cannot be returned

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Interesting long read opinion piece from The Guardian for those interested in Khmer antiquity trafficking.
There are links to previous CEO threads with further information on topics mentioned.

Cambodia is turning the tide on looted statues, but some things cannot be returned
Ashley Thompson and Stephen Murphy
While we celebrate the repatriation of $50m of ancient Khmer objects, the damage to Cambodian society is permanent
Sat 13 Feb 2021 00.00 GMT

At the end of January, the Cambodian Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts announced the most significant return ever of stolen antiquities to south-east Asia: more than 100 ancient Khmer objects with an estimated value of $50m assembled over the course of six decades by Douglas Latchford.

At his death in August 2020, Latchford was facing federal charges in the US for the alleged key role he played since the 1960s in the looting and trafficking of Khmer antiquities from Cambodia and Thailand. The investigations had begun to lay bare the direct links between the building of south-east Asian art collections in the west – including at some of America’s most revered cultural institutions – and the brutal destruction of the Khmer cultural heritage on the ground. His daughter inherited the collection and consented to their spectacular return. Latchford, a British citizen by birth, operated out of Bangkok and London. Though the full extent of the Latchford family Khmer antiquities holdings is still unclear, it is understood that it was split between these two locations.

The return has been framed by some as a “gift” to Cambodians. But rather than celebrating a daughter extricating herself from her judicial dragnets, we should be commending those who have worked tirelessly to uncover and prevent the egregious looting of antiquities and the trafficking networks involved: Cambodian authorities, US authorities, academics and NGOs, including Chasing Aphrodite, Trafficking Culture and Heritage Watch.

With increasingly well-established provenancing methodologies, legal frameworks and ethical codes of practice, it has become harder to envisage the industrial scale of international trafficking once seen out of Cambodia happening elsewhere. Thailand, encouraged by Cambodia’s successes over recent years, has stepped up its efforts to repatriate its looted art. Two 11th-century temple lintels are expected to arrive back in the country in March from the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco. Further repatriation requests are in motion. The rampant looting that has taken place in Syria, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East by Islamic State has also resulted in much closer scrutiny and surveillance of antiquities smuggling worldwide by governmental agencies in the west. A spotlight is now shining on the illicit dimensions of the antiquities trade.

The Cambodian announcement should be seen as a major victory for those who have advocated for stricter regulation of the international art market. Two pivotal moments in this fight were the belated decision in 2008 by the US Association of Art Museum Directors and the American Association of Museums to adhere to the Unesco 1970 convention on the prohibition of trafficking of cultural property, and the high-profile legal battle over Khmer “Blood Antiquities” brought against Sotheby’s in 2012 by the Southern District of New York in consultation with the Cambodian government.

Full article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... er-objects
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Re: Cambodia is turning the tide on looted statues, but some things cannot be returned

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

Cambodia to get back artefacts lost during Khmer Rouge regime from late British collector Douglas Latchford’s daughter
The antiquities were taken during the Khmer Rouge regime and are being returned by the daughter of controversial art collector Douglas Latchford
But scores of items were also removed during French colonial rule, and with many sites undiscovered or improperly documented, there is much work to be done

Sen Nguyen
Published: 12:00pm, 23 Feb, 2021
Updated: 1:15pm, 23 Feb, 2021

Cambodia’s efforts to reclaim artefacts taken during the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970s and smuggled through neighbouring Thailand received a boost when the daughter of a controversial late British art collector last month announced she would return more than 100 items worth over US$50 million.
The Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts on January 29 said Douglas Latchford’s collection constituted “one of the greatest collections of Khmer cultural heritage outside of Cambodia” and their return was “an incredible event for the Cambodian people and the world”.
Latchford, who died last year aged 88, was in 2019 charged by federal prosecutors in the United States for making false documents to transport ancient Khmer valuables around the world.

The items, joining others that have been returned by foreigners in previous years, demonstrate the Herculean task faced by the Cambodian government and its supporters in restoring and preserving the country’s history.

Reaksmey Yean, a Cambodian art advocate and programme director of the Silapak Trotchaek Pneik art gallery in the capital, Phnom Penh, said the Cambodian people believed these artefacts were their souls and identity.

“Cambodians believe that [every person has] 19 souls, and only if they are tamed and unified are we complete. Therefore, the return of these artefacts is both [a matter of] national pride and as well as the sign of our prosperity,” he said, adding that their repatriation was important for local scholarship of Cambodian art, culture and religion in a country that had long relied on external experts.

Dougald O’ Reilly, associate professor of archaeology at the Australian National University and founder of Cambodian anti-looting NGO Heritage Watch, said: ‘’In some ways the return of these objects serves to reignite interest in the past, I would think, and the objects retain their value.’’

Dr Chanthourn Thuy, archaeologist and deputy director of the Institute of Culture and Fine Arts at the Royal Academy of Cambodia, said many archaeological objects had been returned to Cambodia by individuals and countries after the United Nations’ peacekeeping operation in the early 1990s helped restore stability and civil government in the country.

Chhay Visoth, Director of Cambodia’s National Museum said latest figures showed there had been 294 antiquities, most of which statues and jewelry, repatriated to Cambodia in the last five years.
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/lifestyl ... 50-million

On the same topic, see also: cambodian-culture-and-language/douglas- ... 43159.html
and newsworthy/art-dealer-arrested-for-sell ... 12099.html
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Re: Cambodia is turning the tide on looted statues, but some things cannot be returned

Post by CEOCambodiaNews »

More Than 100 Cambodian Artifacts Returned Home
AKP Phnom Penh, March 03, 2021 --

Over 100 Cambodian artifacts have been returned to the country in the past three years through a process of hard work in liaisons and negotiations led by the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts.

The acknowledgement was underlined in a message by Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HE released recently to mark the 23rd National Cultural Day on Mar. 3.
- AKP
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