Displaying Egyptian mummies in museums is 'offensive', say MPs

A report by the group, titled Laying Ancestors to Rest, claimed the possession of ancestral body parts brought to Britain as a result of enslavement and colonialism caused distress to their descendants and diaspora communities.

They call for national museums such as the Natural History Museum, the V&A and the Science Museum to remove the remains, which include bones, skeletons, skin, hair and tissue, and repatriate them to their countries of origin.

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy for Clapham & Brixton Hill, who also serves as the chair of APPG-AR, said the report’s advice would help address racial injustice formed by the colonial trade in ancestral remains.

She said: “Putting human remains on display is unethical, especially when no consent has been given.”

“I think removing the display of these items ultimately changes the culture, goes some way to look at them with some form of respect.”

Ribeiro-Addy questioned whether it would ever be acceptable to take the remains of Britain’s monarchs and display them in another country, drawing parallels between that scenario and the current display of African remains in Britain.

MORE LIKE THIS:

• Coin dealer fumes at the Imperial War Museum for 'trying to whitewash days of British Empire'
• Return of the Elgin Marbles discussed between British Museum and Greek PM in 'private meetings'
• British Museum director says he WON'T cave to woke mob with vow not to add politically correct labels to exhibits

In recent years, there has been growing ethical debates over the display of Egyptian pharaoh’s mummies, with many in the museum sector opting to refer to them as “mummified persons” as a sign of respect.

Currently, people can buy, sell and possess human body parts as long as they are used only for decoration and not acquired illegally.

However, the group argues that the sale of human remains should be banned on the grounds that they are hunman beings, not commercial objects.

The Labour MP said: “We’ve seen foetus earrings, we’ve seen foetuses in jars, the spine of a six-year-old being used as a handbag, the thigh bone of someone being fashioned into a cane, and all of these things are allowed to happen because they’ve altered them for art.”

The report urges the Government to amend the Human Tissue Act 2004, which regulates the acquisition, storage, use and disposal of bodies, organs and tissue, to also cover remains over 100 years old.

The act currently fails to take into account that ancestral remains held in Britain were looted from Africa, the author of the policy brief Iben Bo has claimed.

Bo said: “African diaspora communities expressed disgust with ancestral remains [being] on display because the museum space is not constructed as a cemetery where you go to pay your respects. There’s noise and children running around.”

Under the APPG-AR’s proposals, museums, universities and other institutions would need to possess a license to store ancestral human remains, and would not be allowed to display them except for religious purposes or if they obtained appropriate consent.

They have also suggested the creation of a memorial or burial site in Britain for remains which cannot be returned because their exact origins were destroyed due to colonial violence.