Cultural goods: insight from the Netherlands on the value of collaboration

Destruction, illegal excavations, theft, plundering and the illicit export of legally-protected cultural heritage can rob a country of its national treasures, and can often cause irreparable damage to a country’s history and cultural identity. The illicit trade in cultural objects is a worldwide problem that is not confined by national borders. Although numerous studies have been published on illicit trade, there are very few statistics that properly quantify the extent of the problem.