The International Coalition to Protect Egyptian Antiquities (ICPEA) is an alliance of archaeological, business, and cultural organizations, which came together to protect the country’ ancient sites and antiquities in the aftermath of the January 2011 Revolution. Led by the Antiquities Coalition and the Capitol Archaeological Institute at George Washington University, it includes a number of leading institutions such as the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA), the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR) and the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR).
Invited by Egypt to discuss ways to best support the government, the ICPEA and the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities developed a public-private partnership in 2014, the first of its kind. This landmark agreement focuses the power and ingenuity of academic, business, and cultural leaders to fight cultural racketeering in Egypt through a number of short and long term initiatives.These include:
- Cultural Property Inventories: conducting the first nationwide inventory of all known antiquities in Egypt — led by Egyptian archeologists and the Ministry of Antiquities.
- Physical Site Protection: training security officials at ancient sites and supporting other programs to better protect archaeology in situ.
- Ancient Records Digitization: scanning ancient records to protect their content and make it available to researchers on the internet.
- Satellite Site Mapping: conducting nationwide mapping of all key archeological sites, providing an unparalleled resource for study, in addition to serving as a benchmark for tracking looting and urban encroachment.
- Cultural Heritage Education Campaigns: designing and implementing cultural heritage education programs around major archaeological sites.
- Small Business Initiatives: working with businesses and entrepreneurial organizations to promote the development of small businesses around tourist sites to create economic incentive for their protection.