Pursuant to Economic and Social Council resolutions 2008/23and 2004/34, an open-ended intergovernmental expert group meeting was convened to submit recommendations on protection against trafficking in cultural property to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
The open-ended intergovernmental expert group on protection against trafficking in cultural property held its first meeting in Vienna from 24 to 26 November 2009 and its recommendations were submitted to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice at its 19th session in 2010 ( E/CN.15/2010/5).
Further, in its resolutions 2010/19, the Economic and Social Council requested UNODC to convene at least one additional meeting of the open-ended intergovernmental expert group on protection against trafficking in cultural property to consider and submit to the Commission practical proposals for implementing, where appropriate, the recommendations made by the first meeting of the expert group, with due attention to aspects of criminalization and international cooperation, including mutual legal assistance. In its resolution 66/180, the General Assembly further welcomed this decision by the Economic and Social Council.
The second meeting of the intergovernmental expert group was held in Vienna from 27 to 29 June 2012. During the second meeting, the expert group continued discussions on the model treaty and on draft specific guidelines. Participants also shared views on the practical proposals for implementing the recommendations made during the first meeting.
In its resolution 68/186, the General Assembly requested UNODC to reconvene the intergovernmental expert group on protection against trafficking in cultural property, for Member States to review and revise the draft guidelines, taking into account an updated compendium from the Secretariat of comments made by Member States, with a view to finalizing the guidelines. In line with this resolution, the third meeting of the expert group was held from 15 to 17 January 2014. As proposed in that meeting, the guidelines were submitted to the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and adopted by the General Assembly, in its resolution 69/196. The adopted Guidelines were further brought to the attention of the Conference of the Parties to the Organized Crime Convention.
