How to filter stolen cultural treasures out of the US art market

By Deborah Lehr as featured on The Hill

On Aug. 30, the United States and Yemen signed a bilateral cultural property agreement, committing both countries to combating the illicit trade of antiquities. The new agreement builds on and bolsters the emergency import restrictions put in place in 2020, to ensure that undocumented objects from Yemen that may have been illegally exported will not cross U.S. borders.  

Yemen has been experiencing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis due to a conflict that has raged for more than nine years following the Houthis’ coup in 2014, putting its rich cultural sites and artifacts at risk due to looting, smuggling and destruction. Yemen has five United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Sites.