The second G20 Culture Ministers' Meeting was held from April 9 to 13. Prof. Huo Zhengxin from the School of International Law of CUPL, attended the meeting as a representative of Chinese scholars and delivered a keynote speech on “China's Experience in Fighting Trafficking in Cultural Property.”
Prof. Huo first introduced China's accession to multilateral international treaties on combating cultural relics trafficking and other 23 bilateral agreements with foreign governments, followed by a review and summary of the Chinese government's successful efforts to combat cultural relics trafficking in recent years in terms of legislation, administrative enforcement and international cooperation. In particular, he introduced to international colleagues the establishment of the “Database of Stolen Foreign Cultural Relics” by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage of China in 2018 and the establishment of the Office for the Return of Cultural Relics in 2019, as well as their significance. In terms of typical cases, Prof. Huo focused on the analysis of the return of 796 sets of cultural relics to China by the Italian government and 361 sets of cultural relics to China by the U.S. government in 2019, and shared with participants the initiatives and effectiveness of the Chinese government in recovering cultural relics lost overseas.
Hosted by the Italian Presidency of the G20, the conference was attended by more than 100 national-level officials, experts and scholars from the United Nations, UNESCO, INTERPOL, the International Criminal Court, the World Customs Organization, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law, the International Council of Museums, the European Union and G20 member countries.
