Workshop on the Protection of Cultural Heritage in Southeast Asia
9-13 April 2001
Hanoi, Vietnam

Asia Pacific Organisation of ICOM (ASPAC) in partership with the Vietnam Ministry of Culture and Information (MoCI)

Over the past twenty years, the dramatic increase in the illicit traffic and looting of cultural heritage, combined with damage caused to the cultural heritage due to natural catastrophes, have convinced ICOM to organise several workshops on the protection of cultural heritage at regional level (in particular in Africa and South America). The Southeast Asian region, particularly affected by theft and looting, was chosen by ICOM to initiate heritage protection actions for the museum professionals of the region and to inform people of the efforts the professionals of this region are undertaking. The workshop was organised by the ICOM Secretariat in collaboration with the Asia and Pacific Organisation of ICOM and was financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Netherlands.

Objectives:
To establish a new approach to the protection of cultural heritage in Southeast Asia by increasing regional co-operation, and developing new strategies to sensitise decision makers, police and customs, local populations and the general public world-wide.

Participants:
95 museum and heritage professionals from the South East Asian region (i.e. Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam), law enforcement officers, customs officials, as well as representatives of international organisations involved in heritage protection, and some decision makers.

Content:

Plenary Session
Speeches on the situation in Southeast Asia, as well as the actions taken and efforts made by Southeast Asian professionals over the past years to protect their heritage: illicit trafficking and trade of art objects, legal instruments for the protection of the Southeast Asian cultural heritage, customs and police protection.

Working Groups' Sessions
In working groups, participants debated pertinent themes and offer recommendations for future actions.
Theme 1: Protection of artefacts at monuments and sites and collections in museums and temples.- Recommendations
Theme 2: Customs, police and national co-ordination. - Recommendations
Theme 3: Capacity building towards sustainable heritage protection; Documentation tools and inventorying methods. - Recommendations

Special Session
Presentation of the Object ID checklist as a method and a tool to protect cultural heritage.

Proceedings will be published within the year.