I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1493 
To protect and preserve international cultural property at risk due to political 
instability, armed conflict, or natural or other disasters, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 19, 2015 
Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. SMITH of New Jersey, Mr. ROYCE, and Mr. 
KEATING) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committees on Ways 
and Means, Armed Services, and the Judiciary, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To protect and preserve international cultural property at 
risk due to political instability, armed conflict, or natural 
or other disasters, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protect and Preserve 
International Cultural Property Act’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITION. 
In this Act: 
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(1) APPROPRIATE
CONGRESSIONAL
COMMIT-
TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com-
mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Foreign Relations of the Senate. 
(2) CULTURAL PROPERTY.—The term ‘‘cultural 
property’’ includes property covered under— 
(A) the Hague Convention for the Protec-
tion of Cultural Property in the Event of 
Armed Conflict, concluded at The Hague on 
May 14, 1954 (Treaty Doc. 106–1(A)); 
(B) Article 1 of the Convention Concerning 
the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Nat-
ural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO on Novem-
ber 23, 1972 (commonly referred to as the 
‘‘1972 Convention’’); or 
(C) Article 1 of the Convention on the 
Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit 
Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of 
Cultural Property, adopted by UNESCO on 
November 14, 1970 (commonly referred to as 
the ‘‘1970 UNESCO Convention’’). 
SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Over the years, international cultural prop-
erty has been looted, trafficked, lost, damaged, or 
destroyed due to political instability, armed conflict, 
natural disasters, and other threats. 
(2) During China’s Cultural Revolution, many 
antiques were destroyed, including a large portion of 
old Beijing, and Chinese authorities are now at-
tempting to rebuild portions of China’s lost architec-
tural heritage. 
(3) In 1975, the Khmer Rouge, after seizing 
power 
in 
Cambodia, 
systematically 
destroyed 
mosques and nearly every Catholic church in the 
country, along with many Buddhist temples, statues, 
and Buddhist literature. 
(4) In 2001, the Taliban destroyed the 
Bamiyan Buddhas, ancient statues carved into a 
cliffside in central Afghanistan, leading to worldwide 
condemnation. 
(5) After the fall of Saddam Hussein, thieves 
looted the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, resulting in the 
loss of approximately 15,000 items, including an-
cient amulets, sculptures, ivories, and cylinder seals. 
Many of these items remain unrecovered. 
(6) The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and 
tsunami not only affected 11 countries, causing mas-
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sive loss of life, but also damaged or destroyed li-
braries, archives, and World Heritage Sites such as 
the Mahabalipuram in India, the Sun Temple of 
Koranak on the Bay of Bengal, and the Old Town 
of Galle and its fortifications in Sri Lanka. 
(7) In Haiti, the 2010 earthquake destroyed 
art, artifacts, and archives, and partially destroyed 
the 17th century Haitian city of Jacmel. 
(8) In Mali, the Al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist 
group Ansar Dine destroyed tombs and shrines in 
the ancient city of Timbuktu—a major center for 
trade, scholarship, and Islam in the 15th and 16th 
centuries—and threatened collections of ancient 
manuscripts. 
(9) In Egypt, recent political instability has led 
to the ransacking of museums, resulting in the de-
struction of countless ancient artifacts that will for-
ever leave gaps in humanity’s record of the ancient 
Egyptian civilization. 
(10) In Syria, the ongoing civil war has resulted 
in the shelling of medieval cities, damage to five 
World Heritage Sites, and the looting of museums 
containing artifacts that date back more than six 
millennia and include some of the earliest examples 
of writing. 
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(11) In Iraq and Syria, the militant group ISIL 
has destroyed numerous cultural sites and artifacts, 
such as the Tomb of Jonah in July 2014, in an ef-
fort to eradicate ethnic and religious minorities from 
contested territories. Concurrently, cultural antiq-
uities that escape demolition are looted and traf-
ficked to help fund ISIL’s militant operations. 
(12) On February 12, 2015, the United Na-
tions Security Council unanimously adopted resolu-
tion 2199 (2015), which ‘‘[r]eaffirms its decision in 
paragraph 7 of resolution 1483 (2003) and decides 
that all Member States shall take appropriate steps 
to prevent the trade in Iraqi and Syrian cultural 
property and other items of archaeological, histor-
ical, cultural, rare scientific, and religious impor-
tance illegally removed from Iraq since 6 August 
1990 and from Syria since 15 March 2011, includ-
ing by prohibiting cross-border trade in such items, 
thereby allowing for their eventual safe return to the 
Iraqi and Syrian people.’’. 
(13) United Nations Security Council resolution 
2199 (2015) also warns that ISIL and other extrem-
ist groups are trafficking cultural heritage items 
from Iraq and Syria to fund their recruitment ef-
forts and carry out terrorist attacks. 
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(14) Cultural property represents an irreparable 
loss of humanity’s common cultural heritage and is 
therefore a loss for all Americans. 
(15) Protecting international cultural property 
is a vital part of United States cultural diplomacy, 
showing the respect of the United States for other 
cultures and the common heritage of humanity. 
(16) The United States Armed Forces have 
played important roles in preserving and protecting 
cultural property. In 1943, President Franklin D. 
Roosevelt established a commission to advise the 
United States military on the protection of cultural 
property. The commission formed teams of individ-
uals known as the ‘‘Monuments Men’’ who are cred-
ited with securing, cataloguing, and returning hun-
dreds of thousands of works of art stolen by the 
Nazis during World War II. 
(17) The Department of State, in response to 
the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation 
Act, noted that ‘‘the legislation is important to our 
foreign relations, including our international cultural 
relations. The expanding worldwide trade in objects 
of archaeological and ethnological interest has led to 
wholesale depredations in some countries, resulting 
in the mutilation of ceremonial centers and archae-
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ological complexes of ancient civilizations and the re-
moval of stone sculptures and reliefs.’’. The Depart-
ment further noted that ‘‘[t]he United States con-
siders that on grounds of principle, good foreign re-
lations, and concern for the preservation of the cul-
tural heritage of mankind, it should render assist-
ance in these situations.’’. 
(18) The U.S. Committee of the Blue Shield 
was founded in 2006 to support the implementation 
of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of 
Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict 
and to coordinate with the United States military, 
other branches of the United States Government, 
and other cultural heritage nongovernmental organi-
zations in preserving international cultural property 
threatened by political instability, armed conflict, or 
natural or other disasters. 
(b) STATEMENT OF POLICY.—It shall be the policy 
of the United States to— 
(1) protect and preserve international cultural 
property at risk of looting, trafficking, and destruc-
tion due to political instability, armed conflict, or 
natural or other disasters; 
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(2) protect international cultural property pur-
suant to its obligations under international treaties 
to which the United States is a party; 
(3) prevent, in accordance with existing laws, 
importation of cultural property pillaged, looted, sto-
len, or trafficked at all times, including during polit-
ical instability, armed conflict, or natural or other 
disasters; and 
(4) ensure that existing laws and regulations, 
including import restrictions imposed through the 
Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC) of the De-
partment of the Treasury, are fully implemented to 
prevent trafficking in stolen or looted cultural prop-
erty. 
SEC. 
4. 
UNITED 
STATES 
COORDINATOR 
FOR 
INTER-
NATIONAL CULTURAL PROPERTY PROTEC-
TION. 
The Secretary of State shall designate a Department 
of State employee at the Assistant Secretary level or above 
to serve concurrently as the United States Coordinator for 
International Cultural Property Protection. The Coordi-
nator shall— 
(1) coordinate and promote efforts to protect 
international cultural property, especially activities 
that involve multiple Federal agencies; 
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(2) act as Chair of the Coordinating Committee 
on International Cultural Property Protection estab-
lished under section 5; 
(3) resolve interagency differences; 
(4) develop strategies to reduce illegal trade 
and trafficking in international cultural property in 
the United States and abroad, including by reducing 
consumer demand for such trade; 
(5) support activities to assist countries that 
are the principle sources of trafficked cultural prop-
erty to protect cultural heritage sites and to prevent 
cultural property looting and theft; 
(6) work with and consult domestic and inter-
national actors such as foreign governments, inter-
governmental organizations, nongovernmental orga-
nizations, museums, educational institutions, and re-
search institutions to protect international cultural 
property; and 
(7) submit to the appropriate congressional 
committees the annual report required under section 
6. 
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SEC. 5. COORDINATING COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL 
CULTURAL PROPERTY PROTECTION. 
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established a Coordi-
nating Committee on International Cultural Property Pro-
tection (in this section referred to as the ‘‘Committee’’). 
(b) FUNCTIONS.—The full Committee shall meet not 
less often than annually to coordinate and inform Federal 
efforts to protect international cultural property and to 
facilitate the work of the United States Coordinator for 
International Cultural Property Protection designated 
under section 4. 
(c) MEMBERSHIP.—The Committee shall be com-
posed of the United States Coordinator for International 
Cultural Property Protection, who shall act as Chair, and 
representatives of the following: 
(1) The Department of State. 
(2) The Department of Defense. 
(3) The Department of Homeland Security, in-
cluding U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 
(4) The Department of the Interior. 
(5) The Department of Justice, including the 
Federal Bureau of Investigation. 
(6) The United States Agency for International 
Development. 
(7) The Smithsonian Institution. 
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