Morris consults on human remains
The laws surrounding human remains held in UK museums, and claims for their repatriation, are the subject of a new Government consultation.
Arts Minister Estelle Morris launched the paper, “Care of Historic Human Remains” today, inviting responses from museums, members of the public, and concerned groups.
In July 2000 the UK and Australian Prime Ministers made a joint-declaration that would increase efforts to repatriate human remains to Australia. In 2001 the Government set up a Working Group on Human Remains, which published its report in 2003. Its major recommendation, that the law should be changed to allow museums to move human remains outside of their collections has already been implemented.
A survey of British museums, carried out by the working group, found that 60 organisations held remains from overseas, though this is likely to be an underestimate. 13 of these institutions had received requests for the remains to be returned, of these 33 requests, 27 came from Australasian communities. The majority of the remains were collected during the 19th Century colonial period.
Many aboriginal communities believe that the spirits of their ancestors cannot ever be fully at rest whilst their remains are held in foreign museums and have been agitating for all remains to be returned.
Some scientists and historians, however, point to the historical and scientific value of research on such remains and worry that new restrictions will hamper investigation into our origins and history as a species.
Estelle Morris said that the new consultation is an “important step towards an appropriate response to the claims of indigenous peoples, particularly in Australia, for the return of ancestral remains.
“I hope this consultation will ultimately lead to the establishment of a fair and equitable framework for the holding of human remains in UK museums and for considering claims for their repatriation.”
The main questions to be addressed in the consultation are whether the current laws are sufficient, whether museums holding human remains should be subject to some form of code of practice or regulation, and whether the Government should establish a Human Remains Advisory Panel to mediate claims for repatriation. Strongly connected to the last point will be how the museums should handle claims for repatriation.
