The United States should immediately and fully implement United Nations Security Council Resolutions 2199 and 2253 to cut off terrorist financing from antiquities trafficking.

The National Security Council (NSC) should allocate staffing resources to track antiquities trafficking and its links to terrorist financing and organized crime.

The President should prohibit the import of illicit antiquities through Executive Order, as a means to cut off key sources of terrorist financing.

The President should use his powers as Commander in Chief to instruct the Secretary of Defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to prioritize the protection of cultural property in military operations.

The United States Congress should expeditiously pass the Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act (H.R. 1493/ S. 1887).

The House of Representatives and Senate Committees on Appropriations should approve a limited waiver allowing the United States to regain its vote in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The Department of Defense should support the United States Committee of the Blue Shield’s continuing work to create “no strike lists” of cultural heritage sites that should not be targeted during armed conflict.

U.S. armed forces and their coalition partners should engage in military air strikes, as appropriate, against targets threatening known heritage sites as part of their comprehensive mission to defeat violent extremism.

The Department of Defense should conduct a full review and report on the status of the Arts, Monuments, and Archives section—the modern day incarnation of the “Monuments Men”—in light of the heritage crisis in the Middle East.

Training for civil affairs—for both active duty and reservists—should provide a general background in cultural property protection (CPP). Additionally, training for Special Operations Forces (SOF) should be expanded to provide a basic knowledge of antiquities trafficking.

The armed forces, through the Manpower and Personnel Directorate (J-1), should maintain a roster of active duty personnel with a demonstrated expertise in heritage-related fields, who can be quickly identified, tasked, and deployed to protect cultural property.

The Department of Defense should review the 1954 Hague Convention’s Second Protocol with the ultimate goal of ratification.

The Department of Defense (DOD) should expand its cultural resources program, which protects heritage sites on DOD properties, internationally to to help U.S. forces better protect cultural property when deployed overseas.

U.S. law enforcement should shift its focus from seizure and repatriation of antiquities to the dismantling of criminal networks through criminal prosecution.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) should appoint designated prosecutors to bring criminal cases against individuals and organizations involved in the illicit antiquities trade.

The State Department should educate foreign nations about proactive steps that can be taken to restrict the import of their illegally exported cultural property into the U.S., including through the use of bilateral agreements under the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act.

The Department of Homeland Security, or another relevant agency, should restrict the import and export of cultural property to designated ports, in order to more effectively and efficiently control the antiquities trade.

The Internal Revenue Service should require proof of legal title and known ownership history before granting tax deductions for art and antiquities.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) should work with the World Customs Organization (WCO) to join and further develop ARCHEO, a web based application that allows real time communication between government authorities and international experts to prevent antiquities trafficking.

The Peace Corps should create a program sector for cultural preservation.

In recognition that crimes against culture are human rights violations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Special Rapporteur in the Field of Cultural Rights should develop responses to cultural cleansing and racketeering.

The United Nations Department for Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and other intergovernmental organizations, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), should include the safeguarding of cultural resources in their peacekeeping training and mandates.

The United Nations should incorporate heritage protection and reconstruction—as well as legal actions to prosecute crimes against culture—into its post-conflict planning.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) should refer the crisis in Iraq and Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC), allowing the Prosecutor to open an investigation into cultural heritage crimes and other violations of international law.

UNESCO should request that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issue an advisory opinion on the nature of war crimes committed through the destruction of cultural property in the current conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa.

The United Nations should encourage and support national prosecutions of cultural racketeering and cultural cleansing by domestic legal systems through the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)’s Rule of Law Program.

Art market players should pledge to be fully transparent in their dealings, making publicly available documentation of legal title and known ownership history for all antiquities.

Museums that receive public funding should adopt a disclosure policy that follows the intent of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

A relevant professional organization should establish a registry of antiquities dealers who are verified to abide by prescribed ethical codes and industry best practices.

Because incidents of looting most often remain undiscovered until the objects surface on the market, and thus no records of their theft exist, we call upon stolen art databases to cease certifying antiquities.