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Hun Sen Says Rich Nations Stealing
Culture
Prime Minister Hun Sen told a group of
international art experts Tuesday that if rich countries would
stop buying stolen art, poor countries could retain their cultural
heritage. "It is the money of the rich which creates a
network of traffickers and thieves in artifacts stolen from poor
countries, "he said. " So if one wants to get rid of small
thieves first." Hun Sen said rich nations have the resources and the
laws to ban the lucrative trade in stolen artifacts, while poor
countries such as Cambodia suffer from weak laws and too little money
for enforcement.
Add to that the fact that only about one-third of the
country's people are functionally literate, Hun Sen said, and "you
can realize that protecting cultural heritage is Cambodia's big
challenge in the new millennium."
The premier addressed more than 60 delegates at a
UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization conference
meeting this week at the Hotel Le Royal. Although Hun Sen began reading
a prepare speech, he abandoned the text at one point to denounce
developed nations as hypocrites for preaching to Cambodia about good
governance, while allowing the trade in stolen art to run rampant.
Like drug dealers and weapons traffickers,
unscrupulous Western art collectors spend their millions with impunity,
while Western governments criticize poor nations as corrupt, her said. "I do not understand such a world, " he
said, noting he hopes to speak on the topic before the UN next year,
through he doesn't expect it will have much effect. "Even if the
prime minister of a poor country dares to get up and say the truth, the
world [will] close his mouth."
Hun Sen also attacked Thailand for its role in the
illicit trade, noting that stolen Khmer artifacts aren't for sale in
Laos or Vietnam, but have been found in Bangkok galleries. In 1978,
Unesco created a committer to settle disputes between countries over
stolen artworks. The committee meets every two years, and this meeting
in Cambodia is its first in Asia. Etienne Clement, Unesco's
representative in Cambodia, said the country of was a good
location for the meeting "because Cambodia is truly a country
of great culture, both in Asia and the world. But it is also a land that
is looked at somewhat covetously, "with cultural predators taking
advantage of its turmoil to " pluck from it masterpieces of
its cultural heritage."
clement was to host a reception Tuesday night at the
National Museum. The conference concludes Friday, after which the
delegates will travel to Siem Reap to visit the Angkor temples.
By
Thet
Sambath
and Jody
McPhillips
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