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University museums are returning relics to indigenous groups amid pressure from students to redress perceived historical injustices.

According to documents obtained by , six in seven requests made since 2009 to institutions linked to Oxford University have been approved.

Last year, Edinburgh University returned skulls to Sri Lanka last year, and is currently in the process of returning skeletons to New Zealand.

Manchester University returned 43 objects to Aboriginal groups in Australia last November.

State-funded institutions such as the British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum are under pressure to return items, but claim they are prohibited by UK legislation.

Here are the key points on either side of the argument over whether museums should return their colonial artefacts.

Stealing is wrong

Objects obtained without consent are as good as stolen and should be returned to the countries from which they came.

A restitution report commissioned by Emmanuel Macron in 2018 called for the return of thousands of African artworks housed in French museums.

"I cannot accept that a large part of the cultural heritage of several African countries is in France," said Macron. "There are historical explanations for this but there is no valid, lasting and unconditional justification."

But over a year later, the repatriation of artworks and artefacts in France has not begun, and "is not on the agenda", says The Africa Report . "With 2020 barely under way, it seems that nothing has been accomplished."
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Many British and other European museums have attempted to answer critics by allowing lengthy loans of their objects to collections in their origin countries.

But the French restitution report's co-author, Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, insists this is not a satisfactory solution.

"It's not enough because in a loan the right of the property belongs to you," said Sarr. "You loan something that you own, it's your property. If you restitute, there is a transfer of the property rights and the new holder of those rights can loan you the item."

Boost diplomatic relations

A number of countries harbour resentment towards the UK and other Western nations for failing to return their artefacts.

India's foreign minister spoke this week of his wish to see the repatriation of treasures taken to Britain during colonial rule.

"I have a natural desire to see as many things which rightfully belong to India back in India," he told a press conference in Delhi. He also praised a shift from what he called "utter denial" about how treasures were acquired.

"We have seen globally a return of heritage and artefacts from the colonial era to the original homes," he said. "It's a slow trend... But compared to where it was before where people were in utter denial, I think there is today greater sensitivity about history."

Although some countries do concede to requests to return artefacts, delays in doing so can further stoke tensions. It took ten years of diplomatic pressure from the Mexican government before Germany agreed to repatriate two 3,000-year-old archaeological pieces, notes the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation.

Against

Reduced risk of theft or destruction

Artefacts of global significance may be safest in the relatively well-protected environments of major European cities.

Before Isis lost much of its territory, the militant group oversaw the destruction of millennia-old relics in Syria, Iraq and Libya, bombing and bulldozing "false idols".

"The devastation has intensified a bitter debate over whether American museums, Western collectors and others should be returning disputed artefacts to the lands where they originated," reports The New York Times.

Gary Vikan, former director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, told the newspaper that the cultural atrocities committed by Isis "will put an end to the excess piety in favour of the repatriation model".

But The Guardian says "that defence smacks of Western privilege".

Tess Davis, a lawyer with the Washington D.C.-based Antiquities Coalition, told the paper: "Colonialism is alive and well in the art world. So-called leaders in the field still justify retaining plunder in order to fill their 'universal museums' where patrons can view encyclopaedic collections from all over the world.

"A noble idea, in theory, but in practice, a Western luxury. The citizens of New York, London, and Paris may benefit, but those of Phnom Penh? Never."

Better understanding of colonial history

Returning objects from Western collections risks limiting Western visitors' understanding of history, says Tristram Hunt, director of London's Victoria and Albert Museum, in an article for The Guardian.

"To decolonise is to decontextualise: the history of empire is embedded in its meaning and collections, and the question is how that is interpreted," he writes. "Our aim should be to detach the universal, encyclopaedic museum from its colonial preconditions and reimagine it as a new medium for multicultural understanding."

And a Times editorial said institutions such as universities "should make clear, even at the cost of controversy, that their first duty is to promote research".

"Treating them instead as looted goods for which they must apologise and seek atonement is neither morally required nor conducive to learning about the past," it adds.

Keeping collections complete

The current director of the British Museum, Hartwig Fischer, told The New York Times in 2018 that while the institution was open to cooperation with countries seeking to reclaim artefacts, "the collections have to be preserved as whole".

However, it is unusual for everything in a specific collection to be "stolen", so returning objects often does mean breaking up these carefully collated sets.

Museums "do include works such as the Benin Bronzes, some thousands of which were notoriously looted at the time of the sacking of the palace in Benin City... But they are made up, too, of extensive collections made from the late 18th century onward by European explorers," says the FT.

Who is the rightful owner?

Some argue that a vast amount of artefacts are now located in countries other than the one in which they were created, and that the story of how they got there is often unclear, complex or contested.

"It's true that some artefacts were taken in circumstances we now find unpalatable. But history is long and complicated; the situation is always more tangled than 'baddies' versus 'goodies'," says History Extra.

Hartmut Dorgerloh, general director of Berlin's Humboldt Forum museum, asked The New York Times: "How far back will you go? Until Roman times? Because many items in Rome were robbed somewhere in Greece or in Ancient Egypt."

Professor Nigel Biggar, leader of Oxford's Ethics and Empire project, said universities should not deny the "surrender" of objects to legitimate claimants, but the topic was complex.

"Are today's claimants really the heirs of yesterday's victims? What, exactly, do contemporary Greeks have in common with ancient Athenians, such that the former can claim to be the rightful owners of the Elgin Marbles?" said Biggar. "Where these questions can be given satisfactory answers, the restoration of objects makes sense."

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Should the UK return colonial artefacts?

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University museums are returning relics to indigenous groups amid pressure from students to redress perceived historical injustices. According to documents obtained by , six in seven requests made since 2009 to institutions linked to Oxford University have been approved.

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Should Museums Return Looted Artifacts to Their Countries of Origin? (Published 2020)

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Museums around the world contain pieces that were stolen or taken by force during colonial rule. Do you think they have a right to keep and display these objects? Or should they give them back?

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wazulu Diyabanza makes no secret of why he is in France. If coronavirus had not closed most of Europe's museums, the Congolese activist would probably be inside one right now, wresting African objects from their displays to highlight what he sees as the mass pillaging of the continent by European colonialists.

And it's not just the mighty museums. Diyabanza and his supporters also plan to include smaller galleries, private collections and auction houses in their campaign. "Wherever the riches of our heritage and culture have been stolen," says the 42-year-old, "we will intervene." As the leader of a pan-African movement called Yanka Nku(Unity, Dignity and Courage), Diyabanza is on a mission is to recover all works of art and culture taken from Africa to Europe. He calls his method "active diplomacy".

We will be looking at Spain, Germany, Portugal, the Vatican and - yes - the UK

Mwazulu Diyabanza

Last June, in between French lockdowns, Diyabanza and several others entered the Quai Branly museum in Paris, which has around 70,000 objects from sub-Saharan Africa. Shouting "We're taking it home!", they wrenched from its setting a 19th-century African funeral post that belonged to the Bari people of Chad. Police recovered the object and held Diyabanza in custody for three days. A judge fined him €1,000 for "attempted theft".

A month later, in Marseille, Diyabanza attempted to remove an ivory spear from the Museum of African, Oceanian and Native American Art. He was let off in court. Then, come autumn, he was in the Netherlands attempting to remove a Congolese statue from the Afrika Museum at Berg en Dal. He was given a two-month suspended sentence and a €250 fine.

"The prosecutor had wanted me convicted to discourage others," says Diyabanza over the phone. "But the judge recognised that I was not guilty of 'theft' but of a political act. He opened the door to discussions with the museum authorities. So I'm going back to the Netherlands with the idea of discussing this."

Although further actions were planned this month in Brussels, they have been thwarted by Covid-19 closures. But more are in the diary. "We will be looking at Spain, Germany, Portugal, the Vatican and - yes - the UK," he says. "We will be visiting the British Museum once it reopens. It contains some chef d'oeuvres that are very symbolic."

On its website, the British Museum admits that some objects in its Africa collections have "difficult histories, including the contested means by which some collections have been acquired, such as through military action". It adds: "The British Museum is actively engaged in re-examining the acquisition histories of such collections and caring for them with appropriate respect, in close dialogue with African partners."

The 900 objects from the Kingdom of Benin, now southern Nigeria, are particularly problematic. They include exhibits that were looted from Benin City by a British military force in 1897, most famous among them the mesmerising Benin bronzes, created from the 16th century onwards by specialist guilds. " The Royal Palace was burned and destroyed," the museum's website explains. "Its shrines and associated compounds were looted by British forces, and thousands of objects of ceremonial and ritual value were taken to the UK as official 'spoils of war', or distributed among members of the expedition according to their rank."

Looted ... the Benin bronzes at London's British Museum. Photograph: SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Diyabanza, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and now spends his time in France and Togo, says talk is fine - but action is needed. He estimates that in France alone there are 116,000 African objects that should be returned. In November 2017, during a speech in Mauritania, French president Emmanuel Macron promised to return African works housed in French national museums. Since then, only 27 restitutions have been announced and only one object repatriated: a sword that had belonged to Omar Saidou Tall, a West African political leader, Islamic scholar and warlord.

Diyabanza has now widened his campaign with the creation of the FMAS, the Front Multiculturel Anti Spoliation, or the Multicultural Front against Pillaging. This aims to reunite people across the globe with what he calls their robbed heritage. These include artefacts belonging to Native American tribes, aborigines and indigenous peoples of the Philippines, Indonesia, Peru and elsewhere.

"We have to give a voice to these people," he says, "and push them to join our action so we can pressure western governments to return everything. This restitution must be immediate and unconditional and carried out with dignity and respect - and it must happen everywhere in Europe. The museums and institutions of these countries must understand that we are determined.

Senegal president Macky Sall, right, receiving the sword that belonged to Omar Saidou Tall from French prime minister Édouard Philippe in 2019. Photograph: Seyllou/AFP/AFP via Getty Images

"For the moment, we are concentrating on museums. We are optimistic governments will eventually cooperate. Then we will ask people who have objects in private collections to act with goodwill and return the things that have been stolen from us. But, eventually, it's not just our artefacts but our land and our riches: the minerals, diamonds and gold; the animals, flora and fauna. And reparations - but that is another campaign."

Diyabanza is not concerned if his movement leaves many European museums practically empty. He has described the removal of art and cultural objects from Africa between 1880 and 1960 as a "vast operation of theft and pillaging that came just after Africa suffered one of the greatest crimes against humanity: slavery". He is not opposed to African and other objects being displayed in Europe. But he wants to see them returned first and then they can be lent on their owners' terms.

"These museums are guilty of receiving stolen goods," he says. "Perhaps they can be decolonised and give birth to something new.The current health restrictions mean our popular actions are restricted. But we have to continue so we can rebuild our own cultural heritage. These are our objects and we want them back."

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'We want our riches back' - the African activist taking treasures from Europe's museums

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wazulu Diyabanza makes no secret of why he is in France. If coronavirus had not closed most of Europe's museums, the Congolese activist would probably be inside one right now, wresting African objects from their displays to highlight what he sees as the mass pillaging of the continent by European colonialists.

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