The Ministry of Culture presented an algorithm for returning Ukraine's cultural treasures
This was reported by The Public with reference to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.
The first meeting of the Interdepartmental Working Group on the Return of Cultural Property took place at the Museum of the History of Kyiv. The work is coordinated by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine in conjunction with the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Security Service of Ukraine, the Economic Security Bureau, the National Police of Ukraine, the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, the State Customs Service, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. Representatives of the museum community, civil society organisations and international partners are also involved in the work.
The meeting participants focused on building a body of evidence in criminal proceedings concerning crimes against cultural heritage, mechanisms for interaction between the Ministry of Culture, the Office of the Prosecutor General and the National Police to issue international search warrants for stolen museum items through Interpol, and on synchronising data between the Register of the Museum Fund of Ukraine and other state and international information resources.
Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Ivan Verbytskyi announced that the Ministry is implementing a set of measures aimed at creating an electronic Register of the Museum Fund of Ukraine, compiling a list of stolen cultural property, integrating it into international databases, in particular Interpol, and bringing Ukrainian legislation into line with international and European standards in this area.
An algorithm of actions was also presented, which provides for the search for cultural property, establishing its location, confirming its belonging to Ukraine, conducting an investigation and returning it to the territory of the state.
It is expected that the implementation of these measures will make it possible to establish a system for searching for and returning stolen museum items, create a public national list of such items, ensure the submission of relevant reports through the Interpol information system, and prepare evidence for their return.
As of now, information on about 90 stolen museum items from the O. Shovkunenko Kherson Regional Art Museum has been published in the Interpol international database.
