Iraq launches plan to recover 100,000 artifacts smuggled abroad

Iraqi artifacts returned to the Iraqi embassy in the United States. Photo: INA Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Iraq has launched a comprehensive plan to recover over 100,000 artifacts that were unearthed through illegal excavation and smuggled out of the country. The Iraqi Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Antiquities announced a broad endeavor to recover the country’s stolen Mesopotamian heritage using a combination of cultural diplomacy, security surveillance, and strong legal action. The ministry’s undersecretary, Qasim al-Sudani, told the Iraqi News Agency (INA) that the government’s agenda prioritizes the tourism sector. The strategy emphasizes recovering documented items that were assigned official museum inventory numbers prior to their theft and smuggling, especially during the tumultuous period following the 2003 US-led invasion. The initiative also seeks to tackle the significant number of unrecorded artifacts found during illegal and random excavations. Since these items lack formal records, they pose a substantially more difficult legal issue to monitor and authenticate. The Iraqi government has formed a combined domestic task force comprising the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Interior, the National Intelligence Service, and the National Security Service to carry out the plan. Security agencies are cooperating with Iraqi embassies to identify stolen treasures that appear at public or private auctions abroad. While countries like the United Kingdom and the United States have actively assisted in the return of tens of thousands of artifacts, Iraqi officials have indicated that some nations have intentionally delayed the repatriation process. Iraq is also taking legal actions internationally against foreign businesses or individuals who are keeping Iraqi artifacts.