Mark Pritchard – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mark Pritchard on 2014-07-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports he has received of the theft of antiquities by ISIS and their sale in the international arts market.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The British Government takes the funding of terrorist organisations through any means very seriously. The Government is concerned by recent reports that stolen antiquities may be funding terrorist activity by groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL). The Government is also concerned by any destruction of important cultural heritage.

The Government endorsed guidelines on countering trafficking in cultural property and related offences at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its twenty-third session in May 2014.