Disrupting the Trade: A Legal Approach to Countering Trafficking in Archaeological Artifacts in the MENA Region

The goal of law should be to promote the public policy of maximizing the knowledge gained through the preservation of original contexts and the scientific excavation of archaeological sites, coupled with the recognition of the rights of the countries of origin and of local communities. This article examines how the international legal framework, the relevant laws of the MENA region countries of origin and of their neighbors, and the laws of the market states need to work together to strengthen the ability of the legal system to disrupt the MENA area supply-transit-destination antiquities commodity supply chain. Such coordination of the legal systems would disincentivize the illegal trade and discourage the looting of sites. While more can always be done at the beginning of the supply link of the commodity chain in the countries of origin to protect sites and interdict the looting and smuggling of archaeological objects, this is an examination of what law can do in the transit and destination market countries to disrupt the trafficking of illegal artifacts. While recent legal developments and bilateral agreements have been instrumental in limiting the smuggling of artifacts from the MENA region, ratification of the 1970 UNESCO Convention by Israel would result in even greater disruption of the trafficking of antiquities in the eastern Mediterranean.