The Cultural Heritage Crime Conference (CHCC) is a global festival composed of locally hosted sessions designed to shine a spotlight on heritage crime issues. In England, Historic England estimates that 200 heritage crime occur each day. Heritage crime is linked to organized crime and arms, narcotics, and human trafficking. Recent conflicts in Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, highlight the dangers to culture during conflict. There is an urgent and global need to address heritage crime in its many forms.

The first year of CHCC was 2021 and thousands of participants joined sessions based at Cranfield University from around the world. In 2022, the conference will consist of sessions run in Australia, Canada, and UK. Coordinated by Cranfield University, each partner organization will plan, organize, and hold their sessions with locally based experts. Working together, these global conference sessions will engage and educate the public, while providing a platform for raising local voices by practioners, heritage managers, museum works and archivists, academics, military, and law enforcement.

CHCC 2022 will address contemporary issues in heritage crime including repatriation, trafficking, culture during conflict, social media and digital art, and security and protection of heritage sites. The conference is free and available online, or in person at certain partner institutions.

For more information: https://heritagecrime.com/