Of the 150,000 human remains in French collections, 30,000 dating from the colonial era are kept at the National Museum of Natural History (MNHN).
More than a hundred of them, whose precise identity is known, and which were collected outside metropolitan France in the nineteenth century, raise ethical problems.
The others, even more numerous, have remained unidentified or only partially, requiring more detailed analyses, which are long overdue.
Official repatriation claims for human remains conserved by the MNHN are multiplying: they have come:
- from Australia since 2009
- from Argentina in 2025, although the request has come from the Tehuelche community since 2015
- from Hawaii in 2025
- from Guinea in 2026
In addition, there are cases related to the French overseas territories, which have not been legally resolved. The law of 26 December 2023 [on the return of human remains belonging to public collections] created a framework for restitution to third countries, which allowed the return of the remains of the Sakalava community to Madagascar. The law of 26 June 2026 will allow, in December, the return of Kali’na and Arawak human remains to French Guiana.
