French Authorities Refuse to Discuss the Law Aiming to Authorize Restitution of Algerian Skulls
The French authorities refused to present the project to the MPs. However, it has been approved by nearly eighty of them so far, due to the sensitivity of the file and to avoid re-tension in its relations with Algeria after the return of warmth between the two countries, French MP Carlos Martens Bilongo, who proposed a bill aiming to authorize the restitution of the skulls of the resistance fighters to Algeria, said.
The French MP said in a statement to Echorouk that the French Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul-Malak, decided to restore the management of the file of skulls that are placed at the Musée de l’Homme (the Museum of Mankind) in Paris, and set up a national committee for that to identify the owners of the skulls, especially the Algerian ones, in a first stage before the end of the current year, to devote to the process of identifying the owners of the remaining 18,000 skulls.
The MP explained that the Minister of Culture confirmed that she will await the work of the joint French-Algerian historians’ committee, for the final decision on the file, which is one of the sensitive issues that depend on the fate of Algerian-French relations.
About a year ago, French MPs in the National Assembly (parliament) proposed the enactment of a new law that would allow, once it comes into force, the final restitution of all the skulls of Algerian resistance fighters in French museums, within a maximum of one month at most. Still, the session to discuss the project was postponed due to racist actions against the author of the proposal, the left-wing MP of African origins, Carlos Martens Bilongo, during a plenary session of Parliament, by one of the far-right MPs, as he addressed racist phrases to him that led to his suspension, and by depriving him of entering Parliament for 15 days.
This proposal came within the framework of a draft law document in the French National Assembly dated November 2, 2022, titled “A Proposal for a Law Aiming to Authorize the Delivery of Algerian Skulls by France,” which came in only 3 articles, the first stipulating that starting from the date of the entry of this law into force, and by not adhering to the principle of non-renunciation of the French public archives stipulated in Article 451-5 of the Heritage Code, the thirteen Algerian skulls preserved in the national collections under the auspices of the National Museum of Natural History – Musée de l’Homme – will not remain part of these archives.
The second article stipulates that the administrative authorities shall grant, as of the same date, that is, the entry into force of the law, a period estimated at one month at most, for the restitution of these skulls to the authorities of the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria.
The third and final proposal states that “the 24 skulls that were returned to the People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria in July 2020 are considered to have finally returned to this country.”
The justifications for the proposal stated that there is a need to facilitate the procedures for handing over the skulls to Algeria, to enable the latter to bury these skulls of martyrs with dignity in their homeland, and that “France, known internationally for its defence of human rights, is not honoured by depriving the skulls to benefit from a dignified end, which is burial.” The history of France does not accept the dark stages of its historical past.
