While cultural heritage smuggling is not a new phenomenon, the rise of Da’esh and Al Qaeda affiliates has raised the alarm internationally on the looting of cultural property for terrorism financing. Since the early 1980s, terrorist and insurgent groups have been exploiting the lucrative illegal market of cultural artifacts to fund their activities. Addressing this, the Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) convened an Expert Group Meeting (EGM) this week to foster collaboration among global experts and stakeholders in tackling this multifaceted challenge and threat.