Ukraine Ratifies Council of Europe Convention on Crimes Related to Cultural Property
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a law ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on Offences against Cultural Property. The relevant entry was published on the parliament's website.
With this law, Ukraine has officially ratified the Nicosia Convention by adding a declaration to its Article 19.
The purpose of this declaration is to recognise the Convention as a legal basis for extradition and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters relating to offences defined in its provisions.
The Council of Europe Convention on Offences against Cultural Property (Nicosia Convention) was opened for signature on 19 May 2017 in Nicosia and entered into force on 1 April 2022.
The document is based on Chapter II, which defines the list of offences to be criminalised by the States Parties. These include theft and misappropriation of cultural property, illegal excavation and removal, illegal import and export, acquisition of ownership, sale on the market, forgery, as well as intentional destruction or damage to cultural property, both movable and immovable.
The Convention establishes requirements for legislative and practical measures that States Parties must implement at the national and international levels to combat trafficking in cultural property and its intentional damage or destruction.
On 25 February 2025, the Verkhovna Rada adopted the Law of Ukraine ‘On Ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Unlawful Acts Related to Cultural Property’ as a basis and in general.
Ukraine became the eighth country in the world to ratify the Nicosia Convention. The multilateral treaty has also been ratified by Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia and Mexico.
As The Gaze reported, in March 2024, UNESCO has confirmed that Russia has damaged 345 cultural sites in Ukraine since 24 February 2022, the beginning of the full-scale Russian war. Of these sites, 127 are religious, 153 are buildings of historical and/or artistic interest, 31 are museums, 19 are monuments, 14 are libraries, and 1 is an archive.