COMMUNIQUÉ

On the protection and recovery of inherited cultural goods of Andean Community Member Countries

We, the participants in the First Forum of Indigenous Intellectuals and Researchers, held at the headquarters of the Andean Community General Secretariat in the city Lima on July 4 to 6, 2007:

1. Express our deep concern over the recent discovery in the Kingdom of Denmark of over one thousand (1,000) stolen pre-Colombian archeological pieces from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, as well as the frequent auctions of archeological works by specialized firms in New York and Paris, among other things.   

2. Manifest our utmost rejection of the illegal removal or transfer of ownership of our inherited cultural goods, inasmuch as this has a negative impact on the historical legacy of our forefathers and of our nations.  

3. Urge our competent national authorities to join and coordinate efforts at the Andean Community level in order to act jointly and more forcefully before countries where illegal trafficking activities in our peoples’ inherited cultural goods are reported.    

4. Demand that our Governments make a greater effort to allocate financial resources for the recovery and repatriation of cultural and documentary goods that have been plundered, stolen or illegally removed from our territories.

5. Demand that our Governments and those countries that have signed the UNESCO conventions to provide sufficient measures for prohibiting and hindering the illegal import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural goods and that have not yet done so, ratify those conventions or take the most effective measures to ensure their full enforcement. 

6. Demand that our Governments instruct their diplomatic representatives abroad to promote, among multilateral cultural organizations and friendly countries, compliance with international conventions for impeding the illegal import and transfer of ownership of cultural goods native to our peoples and, where pertinent, the return of our inheritance. 

Lima, July 6, 2007.