Throughout our Presidency, South Africa has ‘prioritised cultural heritage in the face of climate change – protecting irreplaceable sites from rising seas and wildfires, ensuring that the voices of our ancestors are not silenced by environmental catastrophe.
Urgent is the restitution of cultural artefacts – the scars of colonialism that we are finally healing. I celebrate the positive steps from nations once complicit in pillage.
Another pillar of our cultural agenda during the South African Presidency has been restitution and redress for past injustices: the return of cultural artefacts to their places of origin, and the respectful repatriation of human remains that were unethically acquired,” McKenzie said.
Our presidency calls on all G20 members to adopt national restitution frameworks, and to support the establishment of an International Cultural Restitution Fund that helps with provenance research, storage, and repatriation logistics — especially for nations without the resources to do so alone.’
