Legal Session Opens Conference on Combating Cultural Property Trafficking

The Heritage Commission inaugurated the first session of the Conference on Trafficking in Cultural Property, titled “Strengthening National, Regional, and International Legal Frameworks.” The session marked the scientific opening of the conference, bringing together a distinguished group of legal experts and specialists from around the world to discuss national legislations and international conventions that form the legal foundation for protecting cultural property from smuggling and trafficking.

 The session was moderated by Vice President of Culture at the Royal Commission for AlUla and Professor of Ancient Architecture at King Saud University Dr. Abdulrahman Alsuhaibani. He opened the discussion by stressing the importance of integrating national legislation with international agreements to ensure comprehensive protection of cultural property, noting that robust legal structures form a key pillar in addressing cross-border crimes targeting human heritage.

 The session witnessed broad participation, with participants discussing ways to enhance coordination among national, regional, and international legal frameworks and the need to unify documentation and legal classification procedures for cultural property. Proposals were also made to establish a shared database to facilitate information exchange among member states and international organizations.

 Concluding the session, participants emphasized that Saudi Arabia has become a regional model in adopting advanced legislation to protect cultural heritage. They stressed that international legal cooperation represents the first line of defense against trafficking networks and that this conference marks an important step toward boosting collective efforts to build a more rigorous and effective global framework for safeguarding human heritage.