Illicit trafficking in cultural property as a human rights issue: sovereignty over cultural resources and the right to self-determination. Case study of Iraq

Koush, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1163-0916 (2025) Illicit trafficking in cultural property as a human rights issue: sovereignty over cultural resources and the right to self-determination. Case study of Iraq. International Journal of Cultural Property, 32 (1). pp. 31-57. ISSN 1465-7317 doi: 10.1017/s0940739125000025

Abstract/Summary

Adopting a human rights-based approach, this paper scrutinizes the treatment of illicit trafficking in cultural property as a human rights issue. The study focuses on the Iraqi contribution to the international agenda, revealing that Iraq co-sponsored at least 13 UN resolutions on the restitution of illegally expropriated cultural property, actively contributing to the negotiation of others, along with submitting its legal opinions on the drafts of relevant international documents, starting from as early as 1936 to culminate with the calls to stop cultural plunder feeding Western markets since the 1990s. Centering the Iraqi voices and adopting a critical decolonial rights-based perspective, the study showcases how illicit trade in cultural property clearly emerges as a violation of a state’s permanent sovereignty over its wealth and resources, negatively impacting its ability to guarantee the right to pursue economic, social, and cultural development for its people, as well as to freely dispose of their resources, the key components of the right to self-determination.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://centaur.reading.ac.uk/id/eprint/127349
Identification Number/DOI	10.1017/s0940739125000025
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Science > School of Archaeology, Geography and Environmental Science > Department of Archaeology
Publisher	Cambridge University Press (CUP)
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