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neighbouring countries and from there to art and antique markets in the world. Because of the importance of Iraqi cultural heritage for the country and for mankind, the UN Security Council adopted on May 22, 2003, Resolution 1483, of which Article 7 was innovative for the preservation of heritage. It decided that all Member States were to facilitate the safe return of Iraqi cultural property and other items of archaeological, historical, cultural, rare scientific, and religious importance illegally removed from the Iraq National Museum, the National Library, and other locations since 1990. The trade in and transfer of Iraqi heritage items was forbidden. Soon the Resolution was translated into European and Dutch national rules. By then, reports had come from the USA and Great Britain about catches at their borders of Iraqi treasures. For the time being it remained relatively silent in the Netherlands, but the silence was broken in 2009, when there was a catch of 69 ancient clay tablets. Among them were small terra cotta statues, cylinder seals, and cuneiform clay tiles. They had been smuggled from Iraq to the USA. When two Dutch dealers purchased them via the Internet, Interpol came into action and notified the Dutch police. And at the end of 2009, the Dutch police discovered another illicitly sold clay tablet, dating from 2500 years BC. All 70 items were returned. They joined over 30,000 other objects that had been returned to Iraq from other countries. Police register, returned to British Guyana (Photo: National Archive, The Hague, Roelof Hol)
Returns of catches from conflict areas In the wake of the Anglo-American military invasion of Iraq in 2003, organised gangs began to loot the country’s material cultural heritage. This continued after the troops’ arrival, and later on the Iraqi Department of Antiquities and some of the foreign troops were blamed for insufficiently protecting the country’s treasures.35 Soon Iraqi valuables began to stream into
Diplomatic or economic interests In several instances, returns were motivated by more considerations than those of heritage and justice alone. In these cases a Dutch self-interest played a role. This was so in the major returns to Indonesia in the 1970’s. It occurred several times when the Dutch government needed a present for another state. In those cases, the state and heritage institutions easily had frictions about it. In 1985, the Dutch ambassador in Indonesia suggested that
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