Today, 6 October 2025, the International Council of Museums (ICOM), together with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye, launched the new Red List for Türkiye Cultural Objects at Risk during a celebratory event which took place in Bodrum in presence of the Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr Mehmet Nuri Ersoy and Ms Emma Nardi, President of ICOM.
The Red list is a very important tool which supports law enforcement, museums, cultural institutions, and the art market in their efforts to recognise and prevent the illicit trade and movement of these objects. UNIDROIT welcomes this new List developed by ICOM which is our longstanding partner in this field and calls for a wide use of it by law enforcement agencies as well as private citizens.
Due diligence is an important process in the legal acquisition of all cultural objects, and a key feature of the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention. ICOM Red Lists are important not only because they raise awareness to illicit trafficking, but because they constitute a precious tool to implement provenance research and due diligence, just as describe in Article 4 (4) of the Convention.
For more information, see
ICOM Press release – https://www.mynewsdesk.com/icom/pressreleases/the-international-council-of-museums-launches-the-icom-red-list-of-cultural-objects-at-risk-turkiye-3408484
Press kit – https://icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/RED-LIST-PRESS-KIT-English_20251005_131738_0000.pdf
Red List Türkiye – https://icom.museum/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/RL-ICOM-TU-EN-2025-Pages-Site.pdf