home | news l

DCMS publishes guidelines on care of human remains

6 October 2005 - Museums Association (UK) Media Release - Guidelines are now available for museums in England and Wales that hold human remains. The publication of the guidelines also heralds a change in law allowing national museums to deaccession human remains…

The Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums, published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on Monday this week, includes information on acquisition, loans and display of human remains in museums, as well as a section on dealing with claims for their return.

Maurice Davies, the Museums Association's deputy director and a member of the drafting group that drew up the guidelines, said: 'The guidelines represent no dramatic change in the debate on human remains, but they move things on a lot. There is now a very clear structure, making it easier for potential claimants to understand the process.

'Importantly, representatives of the Natural History Museum and the British Museum were on the drafting group, and unanimously behind the guidelines.'

In addition to the guidelines, the DCMS is proposing to help museums that need advice on requests for return by providing approved advisors to oversee any claims.

Davies added: 'The MA urges museums to follow the guidelines, and our ethics department is happy to help museums interpret them. We are also looking at running events around this subject in the coming months that should help to clarify what is expected of museums.'

The publication of the guidelines also heralded a change in the law, allowing nine national museums, previously legally obliged to retain human remains, to deaccession human remains held in their collections under Section 47 of the Human Tissue Act 2004.

Both the British Museum and the Natural History Museum (NHM) have received requests for return in the past, which they have been unable to consider. Both museums have acknowledged that requests by indigenous peoples could now lead to some items being deaccessioned.

According to Jonathan Williams, a curator at the British Museum, the museum has already received one request from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) for two burial bundles in the museum's collections.

The museum has taken expert advice, he said, and a trustees meeting on 17th November will make a decision acting on this advice. Were the request to be honoured, the museum would discuss a timeframe for return with the TAC and the Tasmanian Office of Aboriginal Affairs.

'The trustees remain the deciding body,' he said. 'But we will go outside for expert advice as and when it is appropriate.'

The British Museum plans to publish its policy on human remains on its website today, alongside details of human remains in its collections.

The NHM, which holds some 19,500 human remains, is still developing its policy on return of human remains. John Jackson, the NHM's science policy coordinator, said: 'We have already got additional staff working on documenting items for our inventory, but for [appointing someone to deal with] how claims are processed no final decision has been made.

'We want to have our own advisory group, with an independent membership, to support our trustees, and we will want to work with them to finalise the procedure. We haven't determined who those independent members will be as yet. I would hope to see substantial progress on this in the next few months.'

The NHM is also currently considering one request. Jackson said he thought that the total number of claims would probably be in double figures.

Source: Museums Association (UK)

UK National Museums Get New Powers To Return Human Remains


Media Release - Department of Culture, Media and Sport (UK)

5 October 2005 - Department of Culture, Media and Sport (UK) - Nine national UK museums, including the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, have this week acquired powers to move human remains out of their collections as the Government brought section 47 of the Human Tissue Act 2004 into force.

The nine national museums listed in section 47 now have the power to move out of their collections human remains which are reasonably believed to be under 1,000 years in age. This means that these national museums can respond to claims for the return of human remains by indigenous communities.

This move is supported by the wider museum sector; most of the UK's 2,000 museums are already able to respond to such claims.

Guidance on issues surrounding the holding and return of human remains held in museums has also being published jointly by the UK Government, the Welsh Assembly and the museum sector.

Culture Minister David Lammy said:

"This announcement is the right response to the claims of indigenous peoples, particularly in Australia, for the return of ancestral remains. It fulfils the terms of the joint declaration made by Tony Blair and John Howard.

"We have established a fair and equitable framework for the holding of human remains in UK museums, and for museums to consider claims for their repatriation. I hope that this will lead to renewed and mutually beneficial relations between our major institutions and claimant groups."

Alun Pugh, Minister for Culture, Welsh Language and Sport in the Welsh Assembly Government said:

"This guidance will be extremely valuable for museums in addressing this culturally sensitive matter and I hope it will reassure claimant groups that their concerns are being treated with the proper respect."

Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums sets out a framework for responding to claims for the return of human remains in museums in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It also gives guidance on the keeping of human remains in museums and, where appropriate, other human remains collections in England, Wales and Northern Ireland

To accompany the guidance, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will also be establishing an Advisory Service, which will be able to make expertise available to smaller institutions to help with decision-making in accordance with the Guidance. DCMS today invited anyone with relevant expertise who had an interest in assisting with these matters to apply to become part of the service.

Notes to Editors

1. The Prime Ministers of the UK and Australia made a joint declaration in July 2000 to increase efforts to repatriate human remains to Australian indigenous communities, where possible and appropriate. A Working Group on Human Remains was set up in May 2001, by the then Minister for the Arts, the Rt. Hon. Alan Howarth MP. The Working Group's Report was published in November 2003, and this was followed by the consultation Care of Historic Human Remains, in July 2004.

2. Following that consultation, a drafting group was established in March 2005 to look at the terms of guidance for the care and use of human remains in UK museums. Details of the group's membership and terms of reference are available here.

3. Guidance for the Care of Human Remains in Museums has been endorsed by the UK Government, the Welsh Assembly, the Museum's Association, the National Museums Directors Conference and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

4. Persons interested in becoming members of the Advisory Service are invited to review the above information available on our website.

Source: Department of Culture, Media and Sport (UK)

Further information: repatriation issues page - includes news index and external links

|| click to go to the top of this page