A/RES/48/15 Page 2 Aware of the importance attached by the countries of origin to the return of cultural property which is of fundamental spiritual and cultural value to them, so that they may constitute collections representative of their cultural heritage, Reaffirming the importance of inventories as an essential tool for the understanding and protection of cultural property and for the identification of dispersed heritage and as a contribution to the advancement of scientific and artistic knowledge and intercultural communication, Deeply concerned at the clandestine excavations and the illicit traffic in cultural property that continue to impoverish the cultural heritage of all peoples, Again supporting the solemn appeal made on 7 June 1978 by the Director-General of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization for the return of irreplaceable cultural heritage to those who created it, 1. Commends the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to Its Countries of Origin or Its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation on the work they have accomplished, in particular through the promotion of bilateral negotiations, for the return or restitution of cultural property, the preparation of inventories of movable cultural property, the reduction of illicit traffic in cultural property and the dissemination of information to the public; 2. Reaffirms that the restitution to a country of its objets d’art, monuments, museum pieces, archives, manuscripts, documents and any other cultural or artistic treasures contributes to the strengthening of international cooperation and to the preservation and flowering of universal cultural values through fruitful cooperation between developed and developing countries; 3. Recommends that Member States adopt or strengthen the necessary protective legislation with regard to their own heritage and that of other peoples; 4. Requests Member States to study the possibility of including in permits for excavations a clause requiring archaeologists and palaeontologists to provide the national authorities with photographic documentation of each object brought to light during the excavations immediately after its discovery; 5. Invites Member States to continue drawing up, in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, systematic inventories of cultural property existing in their territory and of their cultural property abroad; 6. Also recommends that Member States should ensure that inventories of museum collections include not only the items on display but also those in storage, and that they comprise all necessary documentation, particularly photographs of each item; /...