Why we need a G20 League of Looted Nations to take on the museums

When it comes to looted antiquities, it is not often that the looters and the looted gather in the same forum. The G20 is one such, and serendipitously India — one of the most looted — is the chair this year. China, another nation whose treasures repose in museums around the world, is also a member. And despite the ongoing froideur over borders and other issues, looted antiquities is one point on which they cannot but agree. Is it not time, then, for a bold new initiative? It could be called the League of Looted Nations. And given the widespread belief that the United Nations is now just a tax-free sinecure rather than a body that makes a real difference anymore, India’s move for a consensus on repatriation of important items of cultural heritage to the countries they belong to could be just what is needed. More so as repositories of these treasures — whether publicly or privately owned — have been able to fob off single-nation efforts. On #InternationalMuseumDay, it is time to rethink the role of museums in this. Tourists marvel at displays in museums and galleries, sparing little thought as to how they got there. Museums and universities have recently been erasing the Sackler name from galleries, libraries and halls donated by the family as their fortune came from opioids. Benefits begotten from slavery are also being rejected. Why is there no similar protest against illegal antiquities in museums abroad? Mainly because there has been no concerted effort by looted nations to publicise the stealing of their cultural heritage — and its ramifications. The issue has so far been conveniently regarded as the domain of individual nations not a common problem that unifies many. So each looted country takes its case to the offending nation, with limited success. The public of the nations where looted cultural heritage is displayed in museums remains largely unaware of the issues. Take the long and so far futile battle of Greece to get back the so-called Elgin Marbles — segments of the Parthenon — from the British Museum. Such has been the difficulty to get the British to budge that a move by the current BM head George Osborne to “loan” the priceless friezes back to Greece is being seen as a victory. No one is calling out the brazenness of the British! How can something that belongs to Greece be “loaned” to it by those who carted it off? India has also been fighting for the return for antiquities, although the Kohinoor gets most of the publicity on this count. The fact is that the diamond is just the most blingy of the treasures that the British got from India via questionable means during the Raj. There are many more Indian treasures in their clutches, including huge sections of the Amaravati Stupa, Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s throne, the copper Sultanganj Buddha and Tipu Sultan’s sword, ring and wooden tiger. The then British Prime Minister David Cameron wasn’t kidding when on a visit to India in 2010 he ruled out the return of the Kohinoor saying. “If you (Britain) say yes to one, you suddenly find the British Museum would be empty. I think, I am afraid to say… it is going to have to stay put.” Some Indian artefacts have indeed been returned by the UK since 2010, but notably, none of those mentioned above. Clearly wider and more sustained action is needed to get results. That is why India’s emphasis on righting wrongs in the cultural space at G20 is timely. In the 21st century there is no basis for the old canard that museums and private collections (mostly in Western nations and former colonial powers) offer more secure spaces than the countries’ treasures had been “obtained” from. As these columns have always asserted, such institutions have been committing a crime against nations by continuing to keep their cultural heritage. The West so far has done mostly lip service on the matter of protecting and returning looted cultural artefacts. And bureaucratic red-tape has ensured that the return of antiquities is delayed. Meanwhile, priceless “collections” in museums that clearly have no business to be there rather than in the places of worship or other monuments they were looted from, continue to be displayed and “studied” by scholars. Including those from the countries they were looted from! The Paris Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property signed in 1970 under the aegis of UNESCO (and endorsed by 143 nations so far) laid down admirably specific conditions. But antiquities of many nations including India are still in museums and collections when they could not have been procured by means acceptable by today’s standards as looting no longer qualifies. Article 2 of the convention says, “Parties to this Convention recognize that the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural property is one of the main causes of the impoverishment of the cultural heritage of the countries of origin of such property and that international co-operation constitutes one of the most efficient means of protecting each country’s cultural property against all the dangers resulting there from.” What has this “recognition” achieved? The document also virtuously states that “Parties undertake to oppose such practices with the means at their disposal, and particularly by removing their causes, putting a stop to current practices, and by helping to make the necessary reparations…The import, export or transfer of ownership of cultural property effected contrary to the provisions adopted under this Convention by the States Parties thereto, shall be illicit.” More sound and fury signifying nothing. Obviously so, as the notorious Subhash Kapoor’s trade in illegal antiquities from India and elsewhere flourished abroad after 1970. He and many others cocked a snook at these toothless pronouncements, particularly Article 7 which said member states would take “necessary measures…to prevent museums and similar institutions… from acquiring cultural property originating in another State Party which has been illegally exported” after this convention “took effect”. The convention also says that at the request of an aggrieved country (via diplomatic channels and with supporting documents), the nation to which cultural property had been illegally imported should “take appropriate steps to recover and return” those items but with a caveat that “the requesting State shall pay just compensation to an innocent purchaser or to a person who has valid title to that property”. How can any title be ‘valid’ if it belongs to another country? By that logic, of course, Greece should simply pay Britain for the return of the Parthenon pieces carted off by Lord Elgin and India should do the same to get the Kohinoor back — after some solid haggling, presumably. Of course, given Britain’s dire economic situation at present, this may seem an attractive proposition—monetise the treasures Britons stole in centuries past, to tide over its crisis today. But there is little reason for looted nations to oblige. As G20 has members from both sides — the looted and the looters — there is a wonderful opportunity to form an official consensus regarding fast repatriation of items of invaluable cultural significance. Pooling information and devising mechanisms that can cut red-tape would be a huge achievement. Of course then institutions like the British Museum will have to come to terms with their own past — and display non-looted alternatives in their emptied galleries. The author is a freelance writer. Views expressed are personal.​ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook ,  Twitter  and  Instagram .