Restitution of colonial property: a bill presented to the Council of Ministers

The text aims to simplify current procedures, while the restitution of colonial property by France is being carried out in dribs and drabs. "France has not finished its work of mourning for its colonial past," noted Pierre Ouzoulias, a communist senator for Hauts-de-Seine and member of the culture committee, on France Culture on Wednesday.

The draft framework law facilitating the restitution of colonial property will be presented to the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, July 30. Championed by Culture Minister Rachida Dati, this text aims to simplify current procedures. Despite the commitment expressed by Emmanuel Macron in 2017 and the recommendations of the Savoy-Sarr report the following year, the restitution of movable cultural property looted by France—primarily in Africa— is still being done in dribs and drabs . Over the past six years, only 27 works have been returned. Among them, 26 treasures from Dahomey were returned to Benin in 2021.

However, ten states, mostly African (Algeria, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, etc.), have made requests for several thousand pieces. These assets, kept in French museums, have never been the subject of a rigorous inventory, and the circumstances of their acquisition or transfer to France are still unclear. "France has not finished its work of mourning for its colonial past. This is one of the challenges," declared Pierre Ouzoulias, a communist senator for Hauts-de-Seine, vice-president of the Senate, and member of the culture committee, on France Culture on Wednesday.

Thus, this framework bill should allow for the principle of inalienability of public collections to be waived by decree in order to remove property looted by France during colonization and claimed by a country. Until now, "Parliament must decide to remove them from the public domain of the Nation to allow their restitution." However, with this text, "it is the government that will decide the conditions of restitution and all of this will ultimately be validated by a decree taken by the Council of State," explains Pierre Ouzoulias.

He advocates for the creation of a permanent and independent commission because "it is absolutely essential that these restitutions be carried out with the greatest transparency and that opinions be given publicly, to assure Parliament and the Nation which owns these properties that everything has been done in accordance with the rules and respects a code of ethics which is codified and which will follow whatever the future majorities", argues the senator.

A wish also expressed by Saskia Cousin Kouton, anthropologist and professor of sociology at the University of Nanterre (Hauts-de-Seine). "There is an issue that goes beyond cultural diplomacy," she believes on France Culture. According to this anthropologist, it is also a question of thinking about how to restore "to the people primarily concerned, in particular young people, their heritage and their matrimony, so that they can also recover this history but also a pride." Saskia Cousin Kouton adds that it is a "question of national sovereignty but also an economic question, of developing the cultural or tourist economy." This draft framework law must be examined at the start of the school year, in September, by Parliament, during the extraordinary session.