Webinar: Smuggling & Trade in Illicit Goods, Cultural Heritage, Antiquities & Property

The timeless problem of the Illicit trafficking of cultural property phenomenon has forced international and national organizations to adopt protective measures in order to mitigate this serious threat.

Indeed, the involvement of organized crime, the transnational scale of the phenomenon, the potential of money laundering and above all the potential funding of terrorism through the illegal selling of cultural property objects are some of the consequences that should force all the security sector organizations to act.

But the effective confrontation of this criminal activity must be sought in a number of actions security sector organizations – the main body for the protection of cultural property – should follow in order to be effective and efficient.

This webinar wishes to provide a clear view about

– the scale of the problem based on raw data
– training solutions for security sector organizations
– proposals for collaborations towards the desirable goal

which will support the elimination of the phenomenon.

This webinar will unfold some interesting facts about cultural property protection emphasizing on:

  • the transnational impact of this criminal activity
  • extended involvement of organized criminal syndicates 
  • social profile of the perpetrators as one of the main concerns for law enforcement agencies
  • how to optimize training courses for the benefit of law enforcement agencies (maximizing the outcomes for the latter)
  • how to collaborate with other national organizations in order to enhance the efforts for the protection of cultural property.

SPEAKERS:

Sotiriou Konstantinos-Orfeas.
Orfeas has a significant 20+ years of experience in Border Issues as a Police Sergeant, out of which 7 at the Cultural Heritage and Antiquities Protection Department of Hellenic Police. Moreover, he holds a Bachelor’s and a Master in Archaeology specialising in the illicit trafficking of cultural property protection. His interdisciplinary skills led him to collaborate with many different organisations such as the OSCE (TNTD/BSMU), INTERPOL, and Homeland Security USA. Nowadays, he serves as a Senior Civil Servant (grade A) as an alumnus of the Hellenic National School of Public Administration at the Hellenic Organization for Cultural Resources and Development. Also, he is the associate director of the MPSOTC CPP that will take place in Kilkis Greece this fall and recently he joined forces with B&S Europe in order to deliver a tailor-made CPP course for the Libyan Tourist Police and Department of Antiquities officers. His biggest achievement is the creation of the “©Sotiriou and Aloupis Cultural Heritage Risk Assessment”.

Angeliki Aloupi.
Miss Angeliki holds two Bachelor’s, one in education and one in psychology, both from the University of Athens. Also, she has a Master’s in Organizational and Behavioral Psychology and she is a member of the Hellenic Community of Behavior Analysis. She has worked on behalf of OSCE BMSC Tajikistan and MPSOTC as an external lecturer while she developed the training programme for the needs of the Libyan authorities (implemented by Mr Sotiriou). Along with Mr Sotiriou, she developed the “Aloupi and Sotiriou Cultural Crime Behavior/material Indicators” as a useful tool for law enforcement agents in order to foresee delinquent behaviour related to cultural heritage crimes. Nowadays, Miss Aloupi works for the Hellenic Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs.

Dr Nikolaos Gkionis.
Dr Gkionis holds a PhD in History, acquired by the University of Athens while he is an alumnus of the Hellenic National School of Public Administration. Nowadays, he works at the Hellenic Organization for Cultural Resources and Development