“Stolen Memory” is the investigation that led to the creation of the first journalistic platform that collects massive data on illicit trafficking of cultural artifacts from Latin American countries. It is a project of Peruvian digital investigative journalism site Ojo Público, which invited four important media in the region to participate in a transnational and collaborative investigation.
Additionally, the database of this special journalistic project, which is free to access, also includes the first census of cultural heritage goods that have been stolen, auctioned and repatriated from Peru, Guatemala and Costa Rica, according to documents from ministries of culture and other entities. It also includes a search engine and documents, which are free to use, that facilitate the cross-checking of information to identify pieces that have been stolen, auctioned and recovered in the region.
The idea is that this database is progressively enriched with contributions of new media from other countries who are interested in the topic and can complete the bigger picture on the continent and in the world. To develop this journalistic tool, they built a database that organizes more than two million pieces of data, obtained from official reports, in four categories: robberies, auctions, property records and repatriations.
…something similar for Europe would not be bad at all!
EAA-Committee on the Illicit Trade in Cultural Material 