HC Deb 15 September 2003 vol 410 c525W
13. Mr. Dalyell

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assistance has been provided by her Department in protecting the antiquities of Mesopotamia. [129564]

Tessa Jowell

Officials from my Department were among the first civilians sent to Iraq after the war. They worked within the Coalition Provisional Authority to re-establish the Iraqi Culture Ministry. They also worked on clarifying numbers of items missing from the Iraq museum and on implementing measures, to help prevent on-going looting from archaeological sites.

We have also implemented UNSCR 1483 in reaction to the prohibition of the import of trade in unlawfully removed Iraq cultural property.