home | news l

Aboriginal leaders head to UK for court ruling on remains

20 February 2007 - A delegation of Aboriginal leaders is heading to London today for a landmark court ruling over ancestral human remains.

Indigenous delegation, protest outside natural history museum, london february 2007 photo courtesy Kevin Brown

Queensland and Tasmanian Aborigines are trying to stop scientists at London's atural History Museum from using remains for research.

Bob Weatherall, an Australian authority on the repatriation of Indigenous remains, says an injunction has stopped the museum from further research, but a London court is expected to make a further ruling in the case on Thursday.

Mr Weatherall says if Aborigines win, their ancestral remains will be returned to Australia for burial.

"If we lose this case it means that the scientists of the world will have a green light to basically continue their barbaric practices, they will be able to dig up or to remove Aboriginal remains and take anybody's remains and carry out scientific investigations without their explicit consent," he said.

"It seems to appear that the British Government is now supporting the Natural History Museum in its stance to carry out this scientific investigation and we see that as a total violation of the agreement that was made by the Prime Minister of Australia and Tony Blair back in 2002 to return the remains to Australia."

Source: ABC

Further information:

ACTION - PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY

Dear Colleagues

I ask you to take up urgent action to assist the Aboriginal peoples of Australia to reclaim our ancestral remains from the Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom.

Just over a week ago the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) took legal action in the UK High Court to have the UK Natural History Museum (NHM) return the remains of 17 Tasmanian Aboriginals. This action immediately followed a decision in the Tasmanian Supreme Court which recognised the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre as the rightful custodians.

It became necessary for the TAC to seek and win an immediate injunction to stop the NHM undertaking intrusive tests into these remains to collect and keep DNA information.

The UK government has unfortunately joined the action to defend the NHM position. (The Australian Government has given moral and financial support to the TAC case but has so far failed to join the action.) We
believe the UK government is seeking to protect interests over ancient cultural collection in the keeping of the museums and may be less interested in preventing repatriation of ancestral remains belonging to
Indigenous Peoples. However the UK government is keeping a vague, perhaps ambiguous, position on this.

To our disadvantage the court has decided that the matter must be heard in full this Thursday, 22 February 2007.

This court case is crucial for all indigenous peoples whose ancestral remains have been taken WITHOUT CONSENT.

You might be aware the NHM has been a major collecting institution of indigenous peoples' bodies, obtained through immoral and inhuman practices over the past centuries, and it continues to oppose and resist modern human rights standards. The Natural History Museum represents the establishment of staid colonialists who think they are the guardians of the true morality of the world. Their claim to the importance of 'science' is a euphoric description of the murderous and evil acts undertaken by the purveyors of racial discrimination. The
NHM does not see reason in the expectation that modern scientific research respect the right of indigenous peoples to take control of ancestral remains. They are blind to the morality that scientific research be conducted only with the consent of the relevant custodians or authorities. This is science gone mad. It recalls the fantasies of nazism.

The NHM clearly expects that British 'class' difference keeps their policies beyond global accountability to the world's indigenous peoples. For example, in its evidence the NHM relies upon the 'fact' that the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be defeated.

I ask that you raise a public outcry about the position of the NHM and UK government. While the battle in the court is to be held it is important the UK public be made aware of the issues.

Will you please immediately write your opposition to the stance of the UK Natural History Museum to show that the indigenous peoples of the world reject its lies about the justification of the 'scientific' value to the people of the world to continue its crime against humanity? You may choose to write privately to the NHM or UK government, or go public in UK and international media, or do both.

Please direct a copy of your actions and any outcomes to the following email addresses:

Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre - Annie Reynolds, <annie.r (AT) tacinc.com.au>
TAC lawyers in the UK - Pia Sarma, <psarma (AT) fsilaw.co.uk>

The contact information for the Natural History Museum and the UK government is below:
NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Dr Michael Dixon
Director
Natural History Museum
Cromwell Road
London
SW7 5BD
UK

Email: <m.dixon@nhm.ac.uk> (cc to <feedback@nhm.ac.uk>)
Phone: +44 20 7942 5000
More contact info:
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/contact-enquiries/index.html

UNITED KINGDOM GOVERNMENT
Rt Hon Tessa Jowell MP
Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
United Kingdom

Email: <tessa.jowell@culture.gsi.gov.uk > and <jowellt@parliament.uk>
(tel): +44 20 7219 3409 House of Commons
(tel): +44 20 8333 1372 Constituency
(fax): +44 20 7219 2702 House of Commons
(fax): +44 20 8333 1372 Constituency

regards,
----------------------

Les Malezer
Chairman
FAIRA
PO Box 8402
Woolloongabba Qld 4102
AUSTRALIA

Mobile: +61 419 710 720
Email: les.malezer@faira.org.au

AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT AGREES TO FUND ABORIGINAL REMAINS CASE IN ENGLAND

15 February 2007 - Aborigines are overjoyed that Attorney General, Phillip Ruddock, has agreed to fund the landmark case to protect 17 Aboriginal remains in London from being desecrated by scientists, Legal Director, Michael Mansell announced.

Mr Mansell said, “The support from the Attorney General is very welcome, and we are grateful for the support. The backing of the Australian Government gives us a real chance to protect the remains of our people, and the spirits of those old people. We have a long way to go yet, but the decision of Mr Ruddock is a timely and profound boost.”

Mr Mansell said, “The decision by Mr Ruddock continues the Prime Minister’s earlier work that led to the Natural History Museum in London being forced to agree to the return of the 17 Aboriginal people whose remains have been in its vaults for over 150 years.

In a sense, Australia is leading the world in this area with domestic laws and government policies encouraging Aboriginal people to settle the spirits of our dead disturbed in the 1800s by grave robbers.

It is really encouraging that the Attorney General made his decision without undue delay. The time for preparing to meet the fairly intimidating legal team put together by the Museum has been ebbing away. The Museum has engaged the Queen’s Solicitor to act for it.

Mr Ruddock’s timely response gives our legal team, led by expatriate Geoffrey Robertson QC, more certainty in the preparation for the final hearing on Thursday 22nd February.”

“Without Government support,” Mr Mansell added, “ a small organisation like ours would have been cut off at the pass by legal tactics focusing on our lack of funds. Mr Ruddock’s support might make all the difference”.

Michael Mansell
Legal Director
15th February 2007 tele: + 61 (0) 429310116

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

|| click to go to the top of this page