<img 1892="" src="https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/04/0/0/3549/2761/664/0/75/0/07328e1_1691156370653-16-547784.jpg" srcset=" https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/04/0/0/3549/2761/556/0/75/0/07328e1_1691156370653-16-547784.jpg 556w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/04/0/0/3549/2761/600/0/75/0/07328e1_1691156370653-16-547784.jpg 600w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/04/0/0/3549/2761/664/0/75/0/07328e1_1691156370653-16-547784.jpg 664w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/04/0/0/3549/2761/700/0/75/0/07328e1_1691156370653-16-547784.jpg 700w, https://img.lemde.fr/2023/08/04/0/0/3549/2761/800/0/75/0/07328e1_1691156370653-16-547784.jpg 800w" sizes="(min-width: 1024px) 556px, 100vw" alt="The " caribs"="" exhibition="" in="" march="" at="" the="" jardin="" d’acclimatation="" neuilly-sur-seine,="" near="" paris."="" width="100%" height="auto">
On June 13, the Sénat adopted on first reading a bill that has wide support but remains sensitive. The legislation, sponsored by Senators Catherine Morin-Desailly (Union Centriste, centrist), Max Brisson (Les Républicains, right-wing) and Pierre Ouzoulias (Communist), will soon facilitate the restitution of foreign human remains held in French public collections.
Up until now, a specific law required the return of any inalienable object kept in museums to be done on a case-by-case basis. Such was the situation for the Maori head handed over by the city of Rouen to New Zealand in 2011, or for the remains of the slave Saartjie Baartman, known as the "Hottentot Venus," returned to South Africa by a 2002 law.
"Restitutions have always been the subject of debate, as museums consider these pieces to be archives of humanity, preserved for their scientific interest. What's more, returning them has often been a government act, and when it comes to human remains, we've kept a low profile for a long while," said André Delpuech, general curator of French heritage and a specialist in colonial archeology. French presidents appreciate the fact that they can use these gestures to support their diplomatic initiatives. In 2020, Emmanuel Macron's handover to Algeria of 24 skulls of colonial war resistance fighters – in reality, a deposit limited to five years, in the absence of any legislation – constituted "a deviation that should not be repeated," the senators stated.
Now, a clear general framework should enable a more rapid response to a request from a third country to recover identified human remains on behalf of descendants. However, the collections, especially those at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN) include French bones, including from overseas territories. In an amendment supported by Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak, the government has therefore promised to study "a permanent procedure" for returning the fragments from overseas. The MNHN holds 24,000 mostly anonymous human remains, 8,000 of which are French, and 1,200 of those from overseas territories.
Eight of them had a tragic fate: They were Kalina (also known as Galibi), Amerindians from French Guiana who lived on either side of the Maroni River and froze to death in Paris in 1892. They are listed in the Museum's collections: six skeletons stored on racks, two others identified by casts. Thanks to the patient work of a French woman from this community, their names can now be brought to light. Corinne Toka Devilliers, head of the organization Moliko Alet + Po ("the descendants of Moliko"), is fighting so that her ancestors can return to their homeland. "It's very painful not to have our dead by our side," she said.
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