International Law, Museums and the Return of Cultural Objects.

• Author: Khan, Tessa
• Position: Book review

Recent events in Australia's northern Indigenous communities and the scale of the Federal Government's intervention in response reflect the fraught, ongoing negotiation of the relationship between the State and Indigenous Australians. The disparity between the language of 'shared responsibility' in Indigenous affairs policy and its limited manifestation in the governance of Aboriginal communities in Australia continues to drive calls for Indigenous self-determination. Further, international support for the collective rights of Indigenous peoples has been recently expressed by the adoption of the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples by the United Nations Human Rights Council in June 2006.

In International Law, Museums and the Return of Cultural Objects, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak explains that the restitution of cultural objects to Indigenous peoples is integral to the process of self-determination and the attendant right to cultural development. Cultural objects--the 'movable physical manifestation of the culture of an occupied people'--are defined as an essential component of cultural heritage, together with land, ancestral remains and knowledge. Vrdoljak sets out to examine the processes of removal and return of cultural objects by colonial powers from occupied communities. These processes are considered in the context of developments in international law, the evolving role of museums, and the changing political status of Indigenous communities following decolonisation. The historical backdrop of the discussion is Anglo-American colonialism during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which Vrdoljak considers particularly aggressive in its collecting practices.

The effects upon colonised peoples of the dispossession of land and resources are routinely decried by human rights activists around the world. However, the erosion of cultural identity signified by the loss of cultural objects is arguably less well-understood. Vrdoljak not only enhances our understanding of the consequences of the European colonial project, but illuminates the full range of policies and practices that must be confronted to achieve moral restitution. The discussion is structured around the three rationales for restitution of cultural objects in international law proposed by Vrdoljak--the notion of sacred property; righting international wrongs; and self-determination and reconciliation. Each rationale is explored against the actions of a particular state...