U.N. Resolves to Combat Plundering of Antiquities by ISIL

Increasingly frustrated over the Islamic State’s brazen pillaging and trafficking of artifacts in the Middle East, all members of the United Nations agreed on Thursday to take new steps intended to thwart and prosecute antiquities smugglers, ensure the return of plundered ancient treasures and counter what diplomats described as “cultural cleansing,” a new tactic of war to spread hatred and erase the heritage of civilizations. The resolution adopted unanimously by the 193-nation General Assembly was focused on the threat to Iraq. But it amounted to the broadest international condemnation so far to the cultural destruction and vandalism wrought by the fighters of [ISIL] [...] The resolution is nonbinding, meaning it does not have the enforcement power of a Security Council resolution. [...] The General Assembly resolution came more than three months after the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution, 2199, aiming to prevent the Islamic State and other extremist groups from profiting through illicit trade in oil, antiquities smuggling and ransom for hostages.

Rick Gladstone, 'U.N. Resolves to Combat Plundering of Antiquities by ISIS' New York Times May 28th 2015.