Decolonizing collections: A legal perspective on the restitution of cultural artifacts

Despite an abundance of international instruments devoted to the restitution of illegally exported cultural artifacts, they usually exhaust their usefulness regarding artifacts looted during the Colonial Era. These requests are indeed confronted with various obstacles, whether it is the limited scop...

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Vydáno v:URI:https://journals.openedition.org/iss,
Hlavní autor: Labadie, Camille
Médium: Article ou chapitre numérique
Jazyk:Anglais
Vydáno: ICOFOM Study Series 2022
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On-line přístup:Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM
Popis
Shrnutí:Despite an abundance of international instruments devoted to the restitution of illegally exported cultural artifacts, they usually exhaust their usefulness regarding artifacts looted during the Colonial Era. These requests are indeed confronted with various obstacles, whether it is the limited scope of the conventions, their non-retroactive nature, or the expiration of periods of limitation. In the absence of applicable international standards, plaintiffs must then refer to national laws and courts of justice in the States concerned in the dispute. However, due to the complexity of situations and the diversity of legal systems, legal proceedings are often unpredictable and unsatisfactory. In these circumstances, many restitutions today are the result of alternative processes (voluntary restitution, mediation, or arbitration) which allow the participants to invoke moral, ethical, or deontological principles and lead to equitable solutions adapted to each situation.