ASOR AND AIA PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE IN PASSAGE OF CULTURAL HERITAGE LAW
On Monday, May 9, 2016, President Obama signed into law H.R. 1493, the “Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act,” which directs the President to exercise his authority to impose import restrictions with respect to any archaeological or ethnological material of Syria.
Our members should know that ASOR has been actively advocating for the passage of this legislation for more than a year, and we are particularly grateful for the work of ASOR member Dr. Patty Gerstenblith of the DePaul University College of Law who prepared numerous briefs for our members and the National Humanities Alliance (NHA)鈥攁 501(c)(4) organization of which ASOR is a proud member.
ASOR’s role in the advocacy work from April 2015 – February 2016
Last April and May, ASOR encouraged its members to contact their congressional representatives and advocate for the passage of this bill. The House passed H.R. 1493 in June 2015 with bi-partisan support; however, the legislation lingered in the Senate for almost eight months until the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the bill with an amendment in February 2016.
ASOR members and cultural heritage experts identified the passing of this bill as a high priority. Thus, ASOR and AIA developed a summary of the legislation that we shared with ASOR officers who are constituents of senators whose support might be helpful for the passage of the bill. In particular, ASOR鈥檚 Board Chair, Dr. B.W. Ruffner (from Tennessee) was instrumental in persuading Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who serves as Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to move this legislation forward. Similarly, ASOR鈥檚 executive director (who is a citizen of Maine) met with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who subsequently reached out to ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Other ASOR members also reached out to their senators in support of this bill.
National Humanities Alliance Advocacy Day (March 15, 2016) and subsequent passage
ASOR partnered with the NHA to include a “Cultural Heritage Briefing” sheet in the materials available to NHS members who participated in 鈥淗umanities Advocacy Day,鈥 which took place on March 15, 2016. This briefing sheet, written by Dr. Gerstenblith and other AIA and ASOR volunteers, was shared by NHA members with staff of senators and House members on the Foreign Relations Committee during “Humanities Advocacy Day” meetings — thererby dramatically widening ASOR’s advocacy impact by including the dozens of leaders in the humanities who took part in Humanities Advocacy Day. ASOR President Susan Ackerman and ASOR Executive Director Andy Vaughn were pleased to join in these efforts by joining the delegations of NHA members who were meeting with the staffs of several members of the Foreign Relations Committee鈥擲en. Ben Cardin (MD), Sen. Johnny Isakson (GA), Sen. David Perdue (GA), Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (NH)鈥攁s well as with the staffs of several other senators and representatives (a total of 8 scheduled meetings for Andy, and 9 for Susan).
The result, in addition to the hoped-for result of getting the bill passed and to President Obama鈥檚 desk, was a lot of great visibility for ASOR in the offices of the Senate and the House of Representatives. ASOR was also prominently featured at the National Humanities Alliance meetings on the previous day, where the Chair of the National Endowment for the Humanities William Adams specifically mentioned the NEH-funded summit that ASOR convened in Washington, D.C., in December 2015 in conjunction with the AIA. More specifically, Chairman Adams cited this summit, which brought together over twenty organizations engaged in cultural heritage projects in Syria and nearby regions, as an example of the way NEH is promoting the public relevance of the humanities by showcasing the powerful opportunities the humanities have to speak to important issues in the public sphere.
While ASOR, AIA, and the NHA were not the only groups advocating for passage of this legislation, we were proud to play a significant part in seeing this legislation become law. We are also pleased that the National Humanities Alliance has already reached out so that we might continue our partnership with the NHA by developing a new Cultural Heritage Briefing sheet about other issues of importance that are currently being considered in Congress. We are working with NHA on this new briefing sheet, and we will report back to the ASOR membership in an upcoming issue of News@ASOR.
Overview of the legislation that was signed into law
This legislation imposes import restrictions on cultural materials illegally removed from Syria after March 2011, the beginning of civil war there, and will fulfill United States obligations under U.N. Security Council Resolution 2199. In addition, the legislation will empower the executive branch, under the auspices of the Department of State, to coordinate all federal agency activities that concern protection of cultural property abroad. Such coordination is needed to reduce duplication of effort, increase effectiveness of efforts, and ensure that those agencies with special expertise are called upon in appropriate circumstances.
This legislation serves national interests in the following ways:
- The archaeological remains of the Middle East, North Africa, and the broader Mediterranean Basin are a significant part of our shared cultural heritage.
- This heritage is increasingly subject to damage, destruction and looting of sites and repositories as a part of armed conflict and other threats.
- The sale of looted archeological objects funds the terrorist activities of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). This legislation ensures that the United States is not a market for these objects.
- The destruction of sites and historic structures is another form of ISIL terrorism perpetrated on the local populations.
- The destruction of cultural heritage diminishes our ability to learn, reconstruct, and understand our past.