There is a renewed urgency for a change in attitude over acquisitions given the generally accepted looting that has been associated with armed conflicts in the Middle East. This is particularly important when it is realised that information about collecting histories has in some cases been fabricated.

The reputational damage created by these returns has seen a call for greater transparency over museum acquisitions. Some of the objects were acquired after the 1983 acceptance of the Convention by the US Government. All had been acquired since the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property. Over 300 items have been returned to Italy from North American collections since 2006. The seizure of photographic archives and objects in the Geneva Freeport in 1995, followed by further raids in Basel and on the Greek island of Schinoussa, provided compelling information about how newly surfaced archaeological objects moved from their countries of origin to public and private collections. The last 20 years have provided concrete evidence for the illicit trafficking of cultural property.

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