The U.S. art market for stolen antiquities from Yemen must be shut down

With the world’s largest carbon trading exchange, huge green bond market and plethora of green private equity funds, China has shown that well-crafted regulatory, policy and financial frameworks can spur private interest in green finance

By Deborah Lehr as featured on The Washington Post

Among the many tragedies taking place in the nearly four-year conflict in Yemen — including the thousands of lives lost, the impoverishment to near-starvation of its people ,and the ruin of its fragile economy — is the plunder of the country’s valuable and precious ancient cultural heritage by organized criminals and violent extremists. This all-too-familiar story underscores an urgent need for the U.S. Treasury Department to use its existing sanctions regime to close the U.S. art market to Yemeni blood antiquities.

Historically, Yemen was a meeting ground for some of the earliest contacts and trade between East and West and a crossroads of the ancient incense and spice routes. As home to the legendary Queen of Sheba, stories about the treasures to be found in Yemen’s markets and the independence of its people were passed across generations, along with a famed tradition of silver design. Much of this rich history survived for millennia, as Yemen is home to four UNESCO World Heritage Sites and national museums that house priceless artifacts. While media coverage has closely followed the fighting around some of these historic places and collections, it has sadly ignored that this history is being stripped for sale to foreign buyers.