Smithsonian/CHCC Workshop on Combating Trafficking in Cultural Property

On March 28, 2024, the The U.S. Department of State's Cultural Antiquities Task Force (CATF) hosted a virtual training workshop for U.S. law enforcement officials to improve their knowledge of cultural property of indigenous and indigenous peoples of North America and strengthen their capacity to protect indigenous heritage by disrupting its trafficking.

The training brought together more than 180 participants from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of State, the Smithsonian Institution, international partners, and representatives from U.S. universities and museums. Participants heard presentations from government officials and academics on partnerships and collaborations, object management, and implementation of the Save Tribal Heritage Objects (STOP) Act. Participants also heard presentations and engaged with Indigenous speakers on the importance of tribal cultural property and the positive impacts of repatriation for tribal communities.

This training is part of a series of CATF-supported anti-trafficking workshops hosted by the Museum Conservation Institute and the Smithsonian Institution's Office of Global Affairs, in collaboration with HSI, CBP, and the FBI. These workshops provide law enforcement with the knowledge and capabilities to help them identify, investigate and prosecute some of the most trafficked categories of cultural property. Established by the Department of State in 2004 at the direction of Congress, the CATF includes federal agencies that share a common mission to disrupt the trafficking of cultural property in the United States and abroad. Since its creation, the CATF has supported more than 100 training programs on national and international cultural assets. The CATF is a law enforcement-focused working group of the Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee (CHCC). Both CATF and CHCC are managed by the Department of State's Cultural Heritage Center.

Regarding Native American affairs, the Cultural Heritage Center coordinates with federal, state, and tribal authorities to return foreign records held in the United States and facilitate the recovery of Native American cultural heritage, including ancestral remains, held in foreign museums or offered for sale in foreign countries. To facilitate voluntary returns, the Cultural Heritage Center helps establish connections between Native American communities and representatives of foreign museums and collections.

Additionally, the Cultural Heritage Center is increasing its efforts to facilitate voluntary returns through engagement with tribes, international museums, and our U.S. embassies, with processes enabled by the STOP Act in December 2022.

The workshop organized on March 28^th proposed a whole-of-government approach to combating the illicit trafficking of cultural property of North America's indigenous and indigenous peoples and included invaluable and essential input from Native American cultural heritage experts.