Rescue has long been a defense for the removal of cultural property. Since the explosion of iconoclasm in West Asia, North Africa, and West Africa, there has been a growing demand for cultural property in danger zones to be “rescued” by being purchased and given “asylum” in “safe zones” (typically, in the market countries of Western Europe and North America). This article reviews evidence from natural experiments with the “rescue” of looted antiquities and stolen artifacts from across Asia and Europe. Unsurprisingly, the evidence reaffirms that “rescue” incentivizes looting, smuggling, and corruption, as well as forgery, and the accompanying destruction of knowledge. More significantly, “rescue” facilitates the laundering of “ordinary” illicit assets and may contribute to revenue streams of criminal organizations and violent political organizations; it may even weaken international support for insecure democracies. Ultimately, “rescue” by purchase appears incoherent, counter-productive, and dangerous for the victimized communities that it purports to support.

中文翻译：

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冲突古物的救援或赎金：在政治暴力背景下回购被盗文化财产的成本

长期以来，救援一直是文化财产迁移的辩护。自从西亚、北非和西非的偶像破坏爆发以来，对危险地区的文化财产的需求不断增长，通过购买和在“安全地区”（通常是在西欧和北美的市场国家）。本文回顾了来自亚洲和欧洲被掠夺的古物和被盗文物的“拯救”自然实验的证据。不出所料，证据再次证实“拯救”会鼓励抢劫、走私和腐败，以及伪造和随之而来的知识破坏。更重要的是，“救援”有助于清洗“普通”非法资产，并可能有助于犯罪组织和暴力政治组织的收入来源；它甚至可能削弱国际社会对不安全的民主国家的支持。最终，通过购买进行的“救援”对于它声称支持的受害社区来说似乎是不连贯的、适得其反的和危险的。