General:

1. Most speakers spoke in support of the principle of restitution of special items of cultural property.

2. No speakers spoke against the principles of restitution, (one person from the floor wanted to defend Elgin; Graham Binns, Chairman of BCRPM, responded well).

3. There has been a general positive shift in attitude compared with the Institute of Art and Law one year ago in London. There appears now to be a wider acceptance of the principle of restitution. There also appears to be wider acceptance (or resignation) that the Parthenon Marbles will eventually be returned to Athens.

Specific Speakers:

1. Gough Whitlam - Former Australian Prime Minister and keynote speaker at the conference was commanding and comprehensive in his arguments for the return of the Parthenon Marbles. You can read a transcript of Gough Whitlam's speech here

2. Lord Renfrew - Chairman of the morning session, robustly commended Whitlam for the strength of his speech. Lord Renfrew also commented that British Museums were nervous that any return of material might set a precedent. He urged that any return should be established as a special case that would not lead to other claims.

3. Professor Norman Palmer - Chairman of the afternoon session said that the threat of precedent is overstated. He said that most museums in Britain are not limited in law from returning cultural artefacts. He is confident that these museums had not been subject to a flood of claims in recent decades.

4. Dr Lyndel Prott - UNESCO outlined the principles that should be applied in deciding if items of cultural property should be returned (e.g. representative of national cultural heritage, of spiritual value, objects dismembered from site. It was the strongest statement that any reasonable application of these principles would result in the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

5. Maurice Davies - Deputy Director Museums Associations, stated that:

   1. Many museums in Britain have returned items of cultural property without causing a flood of requests for return, therefore firmly rejecting the argument that returning property would open the floodgates.

   2. More than 97% of people working in museums in Britain support return of cultural property

      • 44.7% said: Yes, circumstances have changed and in many cases there are grounds for repatriation

      • 49.6% said: Yes, but only in very special circumstances

   3. The Museums Association in October 2001 established a new code of ethics. The code states that museums must 'deal sensitively and promptly with requests'. It also refers to principles that should be applied in deciding a claim for the return. Any reasonable application of these principles would result in the return of the Parthenon Marbles.

6. Chris Price, Deputy Chairman of the British Committee, former MP and academic spoke on the responsibilities of Museums, especially the British Museum. Mr. Price eloquently argued that many British Museums, still adhere to obsolete principles regarding the function and purpose of museums in the present day era. A proper modernisation of museums could result in much needed cultural collaboration to the benefit of all.

Other speakers

From USA, Korea and Nigeria, all spoke about specific cases of return of items of cultural property.

The Institute of Art and Law are happy to announce that they intend to publish the proceedings of the conference into a book.

The institute has already published a number of books on important cultural and legal issues.

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