New York, 8 May 2019. As co-chair of the Group of Friends for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, Italy has presented today at the United Nations in New York the mobile App of the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage. The App makes it possible to verify the inclusion of an art object in the archives and databases of stolen, trafficked or falsified objects, thus offering a contribution to the Carabinieri’s investigative activity aimed at recovering lost works of art. The application, by putting new technologies at the service of ordinary people and experts in the field, testifies Italy’s commitment to digitization and to the protection of cultural property.
The Group of Friends for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, co-chaired by Italy and Cyprus, was launched in April 2018. The Group aims at raising awareness and mobilizing the international community with a view to implement the international legal framework and in particular Resolution 2347, the first on the protection of cultural heritage from destruction and illicit trafficking in conflict situations, adopted by the Security Council in March 2017 on the initiative of Italy and France.
The Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, established in 1969, is celebrating this year its 50th anniversary. Italy, the first Country in the world to have a police body specialized in this field, is at the frontline in the protection of cultural property and heritage, bilaterally and multilaterally and in close collaboration with the relevant international organizations.
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Presentation Secretariat UNIDROIT – Ms. Giuditta Giardini, Columbia Law School
Presentation INTERPOL – Mr. Emmanuel Roux, Special Representative of INTERPOL to the UN
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The Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage
