Displaying Egyptian mummies and other human remains in museums and universities should be banned as it may offend the ‘wishes of the ancestors’, MPs have claimed.
The all-party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations branded the continued displaying of human remains ‘unethical’ and said mummies had been ‘looted’ from Egypt and subject to ‘racist pseudo-scientific research’.
Led by Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy, the group of 16 parliamentarians have called for the return of all human remains held by British institutions to their country of origin.
Returning human remains would assist the African diaspora in ‘healing from the traumas of enslavement and colonial violence’, a report titled Laying the Ancestors to Rest said.
The report stated mummified bodies and other remains were ‘looted’ before being brought to the UK, ‘often as trophies and as commodities to be traded and displayed as curiosities’.
It cites the British Museum, Natural History Museum and several universities among the offenders, and claims they represent ‘continuous acts of displacement and objectification of human beings.’
‘In the UK the mummified person has been excavated and brought back to the UK as an object of racist pseudoscientific research, including in efforts to evidence that Egyptians were white Europeans,’ they wrote.
Remains held in the UK include Australian Aboriginal and Native American skeletons, South American shrunken heads and bog bodies, as well as the famous Egyptian mummies.
The all-party parliamentary group for Afrikan Reparations branded the continued displaying of human remains ‘unethical’ and said mummies had been ‘looted’ from Egypt (Pictured: A mummy on display in the British Museum)
Returning human remains would assist the African diaspora in ‘healing from the traumas of enslavement and colonial violence’, a report titled Laying the Ancestors to Rest said (Pictured: A display of mummies in the British Museum)
In a foreword to the report, Ms Ribeiro-Addy said: ‘The continued presence of these remains in British institutions causes profound distress to diaspora communities and countries of origin, particularly when they are displayed or sold at auction.
‘In the context of ongoing debates about restitution and reparations, the need for decisive action has never been more urgent.
‘I was recently alarmed and deeply distressed to learn that it is still possible to purchase African ancestral remains through auction houses.
‘This underscores the urgent need to improve the legislative and regulatory framework governing the storage, display and sale of ancestral remains.
‘The committee made multiple recommendations to government and museums, including making the sale of human remains illegal and stopping the display of any remains in museums, cultural and educational institutions.’
The committee wants to instigate changes to the Human Tissue Act 2004, which regulates the storage and display of remains – but largely applies only to those that are under 100 years old.
It said there is a need for the utmost transparency in the holding of remains, similar to that seen in hospitals.
The committee states its aim as to ‘promote parliamentary and public understanding of the issues of reparations and restitution’, most notably by advocating for compensation for slavery fuelled by British colonialism.
Led by Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy (pictured), the group of 16 parliamentarians have called for the return of all human remains held by British institutions to their country of origin
High-profile discourse has also taken place around the fate of the Elgin Marbles, a series of statues from Ancient Greece, also held at the British Museum
The British Museum alone currently owns 900 of the Benin Bronzes, with a rotating public display of around 100
A 2023 report co-authored by a United Nations’ judge concluded that the UK owes more than £18 trillion to 14 countries in reparations.
The group’s members include former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, MP Diane Abbott and Conservative Lord Ed Vaizey.
Lord Simon Woolley, the current principle of Homerton College at the University of Cambridge, and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, are also on the panel.
The report into the return of human remains is far from the only debate to take place around objects removed from their homelands by Britons, in recent years.
Debate has included the fate of the Benin Bronzes, plaques featuring sculptures of humans and animals, taken from the ancient Kingdom of Benin.
The British Museum alone currently owns 900 of the bronzes, with a rotating public display of around 100.
Thousands of the carvings were stolen during the violent destruction of Benin City in modern-day Nigeria’s Edo state in 1897.
Just last month, the Netherlands announced it would return more than 100 of the bronzes – not all of which are actually carved from bronze – three years after Germany returned 20 which it held.
High-profile discourse has also taken place around the fate of the Elgin Marbles, a series of statues from Ancient Greece.
The Marbles are made up of more than 30 ancient stone sculptures from Greece held in the British Museum, dating back more than 2,000 years.
They were taken from the country in the early 1800s.
Greece has long campaigned for the return of the Marbles, but no formal agreement has yet been reached.
