UNESCO, FIGHT ART TRAFFICKING PASSES THROUGH SMARTPHONES AND TABLET

30 settembre 2015

2 min di lettura

(VELINO) Roma, 30 Sep - he fight against the illegaltrafficking of works of art is now also being waged withsmartphones and tablets, using an Italian app called ITPC. Thislatest generation app was presented during the event "CulturalProperty Trafficking in Crisis Areas - The expertise of theItalian Carabinieri for the Protection of Cultural Heritage inCountering this new Challenge", organised by Italy and UNESCOat the Third Session of the Subsidiary Committee of the meetingof countries who are party to the 1970 Convention on thesuppression and prevention of the illicit trafficking ofcultural goods. ITPC, entirely planned by the Carabinieri unitfor the Protection of Cultural Heritage and Anti-Counterfeiting(TPC) for a wide range of users (especially young people),makes any smartphone owner able to give an effectivecontribution to the fight against illicit trafficking. With aninternet connection, this piece of Italian technologicalexcellence allows access, at any place and in any circumstance,to the database of unlawfully removed cultural heritage kept atthe Ministry of Heritage and Culture and Tourism (MIBACT) andenables the consultation of entire collections of publicationsput out by the TPC command since 1970, containing the images ofthe main works of art stolen over that time. The product, sofar only distributed in Italy, will follow international "bestpractices" and will soon be released in other languages. Theapp's presentation was handled by the Italian PermanentRepresentation to UNESCO, headed by Vincenza Lomonaco whoopened the proceedings. Subsequently there were speeches fromthe central director for the Promotion of Cultural Affairs ofthe Foreign Ministry, Massimo Riccardo, and the assistantdirector general for the Culture sector of UNESCO, AlfredoPerez de Arminan. The app is just the latest tool that Italyhas fielded internationally to promote the protection of theworld's cultural heritage. Indeed, Italy has long been involvedin all major forums, particularly the United Nations andUNESCO. Indeed, at the summit on peacekeeping, organised on thesidelines of the UN General Assembly, Prime Minister MatteoRenzi proposed the establishment of a Carabinieri task forcespecialising in the protection of cultural heritage worldwide,to be mobilised in an emergency at the request of UNESCO. Thisissue has become particularly prominent following firstly thedestruction perpetrated by the Taliban in Afghanistan and then,more recently, by ISIS in Iraq and Syria. vel.