The first was the 1970 UNESCO United Nationss Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
"The first important step on the international level is the ratification and implementation of the 1970 Unesco convention of the means of prohibiting and preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property," Bokova said.
The resolution says: "The absence of common international standards on the import, export and transfer of conventional arms is a contributory factor to conflict, displacement of people, crime and terrorism".
This all happened, of course, long before today's nationalistic retention laws and the United Nations' Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
In 1970 UNESCO passed a resolution that identified coins and other classes of objects more than 100 years old as cultural property and recommended controls on the import, export, and transfer of ownership of these items.
In an attempt to remedy the situation, in 1970 UNESCO adopted the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
The treaty seeks to crack down on illicit firearms by, among other things, establishing a system for the import, export and transfer of firearms, and by fostering cooperation among law enforcement agencies investigating illegal trafficking.
Technically, unauthorized trade in such art had been illegal since 1970, when Unesco drew up its Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property.
It is commonly associated with debates over "cultural patrimony," "cultural property," and related international agreements, such as the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property (1970), designed to protect cultural artifacts.
Most regulation of collecting activity embodies principles established in the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the 1970 Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export, and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, both approved by member states of UNESCO.
