A group of MPs, including Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, is calling for a ban on the sale and public display of ancestral remains.
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP said, “It’s shocking that institutions continue to display African ancestral remains or that a market still exists for them in prestigious auction houses.”
This month, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for African Reparations launched its ‘Laying Ancestors to Rest’ report. Its core recommendation is that remains should no longer be displayed in UK museums. It highlights clear ethical concerns around the display and holding of African ancestral remains in British museums and private collections. So many of these remains were acquired under colonial rule and have great personal and cultural significance to the people they were stolen from. They are not objects but human beings deserving of respect and dignity. I hope the report will encourage museums, collectors and the government to work to respectfully repatriate African ancestral remains acquired under colonialism.