French Parliament Moves To Resolve Issue Of Human Skulls Held In Paris

The French parliament moved to resolve the issue of human skulls in public property in French museums and return them to their countries of origin, including Algeria. A group of French senators has proposed a law to return human remains in public collections to their countries of origin and allow them to be buried in order to preserve the sanctity and dignity of the dead.

After a previous initiative by representatives of the National Assembly, the second proposal of the French Parliament by members of the Senate, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Shorouk, was of an urgent nature and was registered in the Council’s administration under No. 551, and includes making amendments to the French Heritage Law by removing the stamp of cultural property from the public collections.

The proposed law stipulates that, by way of derogation from the principle of the inalienability of the property of public persons located in the public domain, established in article L.3111-1 of the General Law on the Property of Public Persons, it may be decided to remove from the public domain human remains, whether they are a whole body or one of the elements of the human body covered by chapter 1-2112 of the same law, under the conditions set out in the articles of the new law, i.e. that the removal from the public domain is carried out exclusively to allow its return to the State for funeral purposes and by derogation from article L. 451-7, and these provisions shall apply. There is also material on human remains incorporated into French museum collections through donations and bequests.

Among the conditions of the proposed law is that it is not permissible to order the transfer of specific human remains of their origin from the public domain to the territory of a foreign state unless the following conditions are met: The first is that the request for repatriation is made by a state acting, if necessary, on behalf of a human group that still exists on the territory of the country.

In case of doubt as to the identification of the human remains that are the subject of the application for restitution, a scientific verification of their origin shall be carried out. A joint committee, established in consultation with the requesting State, shall make it possible to clarify their identity and otherwise convincingly link them to the human group to which they are presumed to belong.

The law provides for the possibility of carrying out scientific analyses, including constitutional genetic characteristics, when no other means of identification is possible, and also establishes a special committee to prepare a report detailing the work carried out and to draw up a list of human remains whose origin can be determined.

This report shall be submitted to the Government and to the requesting State, provided that the removal from the public domain is declared by a decree of the Council of State, taken on the basis of the report of the Minister of Culture, if necessary in conjunction with the Minister supervising the national public institution in charge of human remains, and in the case where the owner is a local authority. The removal from the public domain may be announced only after the prior approval of the restoration by its advisory body.

The bill also requires the Government to submit an annual report to Parliament on requests for the repatriation of human remains received from foreign countries. A decree of the Council of State shall specify the conditions for the application of this section, including the conditions under which human remains shall be identified in application of this section and the conditions and deadlines. Return of human remains to the requesting state after they have been removed from the public domain.