G.O. SODIPO AND CO.

NEWSLETTER

September, 2021 Edition

Cultural property has always been attractive to humanity all over the world. This attraction has stemmed from the traditional significance, craftsmanship and beauty possessed by cultural property. During warfare, cultural property are looted, destroyed or acquired as spoils of war or as payment for troops on the victorious side. Cultural property includes sculptures, paintings, literature, ceremonial objects, craftwork, intangible objects and other innumerable forms of aesthetic manifestation. [1]It is estimated that 90 to 95 per cent of Africa’s cultural heritage is outside the continent and is now held by prominent museums worldwide.[2] Most of these objects were looted during colonization, ethnographic missions, European wars or acquired under questionable conditions and auctions. The looting is arguably illegal under today’s international treaties