Assistant Secretary Lee Satterfield Travels to New York City for Repatriation of Cultural Property to Cambodia

Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) Lee Satterfield will travel to New York, New York on Monday, August 8, where she will join the Honorable Keo Chhea, the Government of the Kingdom of Cambodia’s Ambassador to the United States and representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (USASD) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for a repatriation ceremony of 30 pieces of cultural property, including a 10th Century sculpture ‘Skanda on a Peacock,’ which has cultural and religious significance to the people of Cambodia.  The Assistant Secretary’s visit will follow Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s travel to Cambodia this week and underscores the United States’ commitment to preserving cultural heritage and property in Cambodia and around the world, as well as the bilateral and people-to-people relationships between the United States and Cambodia.

Assistant Secretary Satterfield will also highlight Cambodia’s regional leadership as a partner in cultural heritage protection through the U.S.-Cambodia cultural property agreement, the only such agreement between the United States and an ASEAN member.   For more than 20 years, the United States has worked to protect, preserve, and honor Cambodia’s rich cultural heritage with Cambodian partners, American academic institutions, and nonprofit organizations.

Monday’s repatriation ceremony is part of the United States’ whole-of-government approach to protecting and preserving global cultural heritage.  Through the U.S. Cultural Heritage Coordinating Committee, 16 U.S. government agencies, led by the Department of State and chaired by Assistant Secretary Satterfield, work together to disrupt looting and illegal trade of international cultural property, while also promoting the lawful exchange of cultural property for cultural, educational, and scientific purposes.

Monday’s ceremony is open to the media; contact eca-press@state.gov for more details.  Follow along on Twitter at @ECA_AS and at U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York | Facebook.