Gold mining in Ethiopia ‘breeds rights violations’

SUNDAY APRIL 30 2023

A woman washes mine dust in search of gold. Ethiopia’s nascent gold mining sector may be breeding rights violations after a lobby found workers were unprotected from potential health hazards.

 PHOTO | FILE | NMG

By TESFA-ALEM TEKLE
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Ethiopia’s nascent gold mining sector may be breeding rights violations after a lobby found workers were unprotected from potential health hazards.

Midroc Investment Group, the Ethiopian company operating the mine, and the Swiss refinery Argor-Heraeus that sourced its gold, are accused of taking no action over public reports about pollution from the mine for years, Human Rights Watch said.

According to the report published last week, residents living near the mine, located close to the town of Shakiso in Guji Zone, in the most populous region of Oromia have for years complained of ill-health and disabilities, particularly in newborn children.

Although the mine was closed years ago following public protests, Human Rights Watch's research shows that the companies are inexplicably, been allowed to resume operations by the government without the firms taking any remedial action to address the pollution issues.

Health complications

This is disregard to the mining operations causing long-term health complications, with children being born with disabilities.

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The Ethiopian government's re-authorisation of Midrok's Lege Dembi mining site violates the basic rights of the people living in the area, said Juliane Kippenberg, Associate Child Rights Director at Human Rights Watch.

“The Ethiopian government, by allowing the Lega Dembi mine to reopen without pollution reduction steps in place, is violating the right to health of children and adults living nearby.

“The government should suspend operations until measures have been taken to ensure that harmful chemicals in the water and soil do not exceed international standards and that people harmed by the pollution obtain compensation and care,” Juliane added.

After the report, neither the Ethiopian government nor the companies have responded to our inquiries on the allegations. However, Argor-Heraeus' sourcing practices had been endorsed by two relevant certification schemes, raising question marks on the validity of background checks.

Arsenic in water

A study conducted by Addis Ababa University in 2018, confirmed that there is a large amount of arsenic in the water samples taken downstream from the mine site. Samples taken from soil outside the mine area have also been found to contain high levels of arsenic, nickel and chromium; all harmful to human health especially the nervous system.

The study conducted by the University’s Ethiopian Institute of Public Health showed that the residents living in Lege Dembi area are vulnerable to dangerous toxic substances coming out of the mining area.

According to findings of the study, "communities living in the mining area were at risk of exposure to pollutants like toxic metals released from the mining plant and other mining activities."

Human Rights Watch said the outcomes of the study have never been made public. Midroc Investment Group, one of Ethiopia's largest private business entities, took over the mine from the Ethiopian government in 1997. Based on information provided by Argor-Heraeus, Midroc appears to have taken little action to address complaints over environmental harm and ill-health. Human Rights Watch said. Midroc did not respond to a Human Rights Watch request for information. Argor-Heraeus, one of the largest gold refineries globally, sourced gold from Lega Dembi from at least 2007 until March 2018, and was the only company named as Midroc's business partner in a 2007 Midroc annual report.

Environmental pollution

According to information shared by Argor-Heraeus with Human Rights Watch, the refinery did not identify the harm to the environment and to human rights at Lega Dembi until 2018, despite media reports and public protests about environmental pollution and ill-health at the mine in 2009-10, 2015-2016, and 2017.

Argor-Heraeus did not use its leverage with Midroc to address that harm.

The accusations raise debate on the growing need to have firms or investors sign on a commitment to abide by environmental conservation laws, according to standards set by the United Nations, and the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD).

Companies are supposed to take steps to identify, prevent, and mitigate their human rights and environmental impacts: a process called due diligence.

“The mine owner Midroc does not appear to have seriously addressed the human rights and environmental harms at Lega Dembi, despite years of public protests by residents," said Felix Horne, senior environmental researcher at Human Rights Watch.

"It is a source of great concern that the gold refinery Argor-Heraeus sourced gold from the mine for years without publicly identifying the human rights risks."

Wildfires in Anchorage? Climate change sparks disaster fears

By MARK THIESSEN

yesterday

1 of 12

Flames are visible from the Beluga Point parking area near Anchorage, Alaska, on July 19, 2016, as a wildfire near McHugh Creek burns. A recent series of wildfires near Anchorage and the hottest day on record have sparked fears that a warming climate could soon mean serious, untenable blazes in urban areas — just like in the rest of the drought-plagued American West.

 (Marc Lester/Anchorage Daily News via AP)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Research on a flat spot for air evacuations. Talk of old-style civil defense sirens to warn of fast-moving wildfires. Hundreds of urban firefighters training in wildland firefighting techniques while snow still blankets the ground.

This is the new reality in Alaska’s largest city, where a recent series of wildfires near Anchorage and the hottest day on record have sparked fears that a warming climate could soon mean serious, untenable blazes in urban areas — just like in the rest of the drought-plagued American West.

The risk is particularly high in the city’s burgeoning Anchorage Hillside neighborhood, where multi-million dollar homes have pushed further and further up steep slopes and to the forest’s edge. Making the challenge even greater is that many of these areas on the Hillside — home to about 35,000 people — have but one road in and out, meaning that fleeing residents could clog a roadway or be cut off from reaching Anchorage at all.

The prospect of a major wildfire there keeps Anchorage Fire Chief Doug Schrage awake at night when conditions are hot and dry.

“I’ve characterized this as probably the single largest threat to the municipality of Anchorage,” he said.

Schrage’s city fire department is adept at fighting blazes in buildings. But as Anchorage has grown, the available land is higher up, where wild and urban areas intersect, and those fires are very different from what his firefighters are trained to combat.

The city also has limited wildfire equipment, and it’s nearly impossible to get a fire engine up some switchback roads to homes nestled high up mountains.

“Our strategy is basically to put as many resources as we have on duty on a small fire so that we can keep it contained” while waiting for assistance from the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection, Schrage said.

This spring, 360 city firefighters are training on wildland firefighting tactics like using water hoses to create a line around the perimeter of a fire and the city is encouraging homeowners to participate in a program to identify hazards like brush and old trees that would feed a fire before it’s too late. In one hilly neighborhood, a community council is researching locations for a makeshift helipad that could be used for air evacuations.

That same small neighborhood with but one road in and out has also discussed installing sirens to warn residents on the city’s wooded fringes of fire danger and hopes to build a database of all residents for emergency communications.

“As much as you wouldn’t want to do it ... it’s like rolling the dice on being alive or dead,” said Matt Moore, who fled his home in 2019 lest he be trapped on the wrong side of the flames on the single road.

Such precautions — common in parched and fire-prone states like California and Colorado — are relatively new in Anchorage in the face of increased fire risk fueled by global warming. The city reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) four years ago, the city’s hottest temperature on record, and it’s had five significant wildfires over the past seven years that were all extinguished before causing much damage.

Still, the U.S. is headed into an El Nino year this season, which traditionally means a bigger fire year and further raises concerns, said Brian Brettschneider, a climate scientist with National Weather Service, Alaska Region.

More than 4,844 square miles (12,546 square kilometers) burned statewide last year — an area just under the size of Connecticut.

Since 1950, there have been 14 years in which more than 4,687 square miles (12,139 square kilometers) — the equivalent of 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares) — have burned during Alaska’s short but intense fire season. Half of those fire seasons have occurred since 2002, including the worst year on record — 2004 — when over 10,156 square miles (26,304 square kilometers) burned.

From his home high above Anchorage in 2019, Moore saw the black smoke billowing from a fire miles away in a heavily wooded area of the city. He gathered his pets and important papers in his vehicle — his wife was already safe in Anchorage — and drove 5 miles (8 kilometers) down the only road serving the roughly 600 neighborhood residents to safety.

“Thankfully, they started getting it under control,” he said.

For now, both the city and Schrage’s fire department are focused on keeping things under control — implementing as many preventative measures as possible.

The city department has removed evergreen trees and reduced brush in strips of 100 feet (30 meters) next to neighborhoods to help contain any future fires and Anchorage has cleared trees and other hazards in parks and along greenbelts.

Firefighters have also conducted inspections at people’s homes to identify fire hazards such as firewood kept too close to their homes or too much vegetation on their property — all in hopes of preserving homes, livelihoods and the community in a time of growing climate uncertainty.

Freya, the playful walrus who had to be put down, returns to Oslo as a statue

The 600kg mammal was euthanised last year after endangering boats while sunbathing in the fjords

TO PROTECT PRIVATE PROPERTY 

STATUE IS PREFERED TO REAL WALRUS






Walrus Freya loved to sunbathe on small boats - but risked sinking them while trying to climb aboard. This is her statue. EPA

The National
Apr 30, 2023

A bronze sculpture of Freya the walrus, who gained global attention last summer after playfully basking in the Oslo Fjord until officials euthanised her, was unveiled in Norway's capital on Saturday.

The life-size sculpture depicts Freya lying on her side on the rocky shore of Oslo's Kongen Marina, not far from where the 600kg walrus last summer drew large crowds as she chased ducks and swans and sunbathed on boats that struggled to support her bulk.

Norway gets sculpture of euthanised walrus Freya

Officials decided to put her down in August, saying she was suffering from stress and posed a risk to people who did not keep their distance as requested.

The decision caused anger among some, and an online campaign raised more than $25,000 to pay for the sculpture of Freya by Norwegian artist Astri Tonoian.

"I started this because I'm furious about the way the Fisheries Directorate and the state handled this situation," campaign organiser Erik Holm told AFP before the unveiling.

"Beyond the issue of Freya, we need to ask ourselves how we treat animals and nature. We need to think about our relationship to wildlife."

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Freya, estimated to be around five years old, had been sighted in the UK, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden before choosing to spend part of the summer in Norway.

The walrus is a protected species that normally lives in the more northerly latitudes of the Arctic.

Despite repeated appeals to stay away, curious onlookers approached the mammal, sometimes with children in tow, to take photographs.

Walruses do not normally behave aggressively towards humans, but they can feel threatened by intruders and attack.

Critics said the decision to put the animal down was rushed and did not take her well-being into account.

Officials said sedating Freya and moving her to a less populated area would be too complex an operation.

The Origins and Traditions of May Day

Monday, May 01, 2006

I wrote the Origins and Traditions of Mayday in 1997. Yes way back then, it was one of my first web postings. It was used to launch MayDay on the Web and the Edmonton May Week celebrations that have continued since.

Here it is again and the original web page is here.

An Australian labour historian used it as the basis for his article on May Day which expands on my points.

THE ORIGINS AND TRADITIONS OF MAYDAY

By Eugene W. Plawiuk

The international working class holiday; Mayday,
originated in pagan Europe. It was a festive holy day
celebrating the first spring planting. The ancient
Celts and Saxons celebrated May 1st as Beltane or the
day of fire. Bel was the Celtic god of the sun.

The Saxons began their May day celebrations on the eve
of May, April 30. It was an evening of games and
feasting celebrating the end of winter and the return
of the sun and fertility of the soil. Torch bearing
peasants and villager would wind their way up paths to
the top of tall hills or mountain crags and then
ignite wooden wheels which they would roll down into
the fields

The May eve celebrations were eventually outlawed by
the Catholic church, but were still celebrated by
peasants until the late 1700's. While good church
going folk would shy away from joining in the
celebrations, those less afraid of papal authority
would don animal masks and various costumes, not
unlike our modern Halloween. The revelers, lead by the
Goddess of the Hunt; Diana (sometimes played by a
pagan-priest in women's clothing) and the Horned God;
Herne, would travel up the hill shouting, chanting and
singing, while blowing hunting horns. This night
became known in Europe as Walpurgisnacht, or night of
the witches

The Celtic tradition of Mayday in the British isles
continued to be celebrated through-out the middle ages
by rural and village folk. Here the traditions were
similar with a goddess and god of the hunt.

As European peasants moved away from hunting gathering
societies their gods and goddesses changed to reflect
a more agrarian society. Thus Diana and Herne came to
be seen by medieval villagers as fertility deities of
the crops and fields. Diana became the Queen of the
May and Herne became Robin Goodfellow (a predecessor
of Robin Hood) or the Green Man.

The Queen of the May reflected the life of the fields
and Robin reflected the hunting traditions of the
woods. The rites of mayday were part and parcel of
pagan celebrations of the seasons. Many of these pagan
rites were later absorbed by the Christian church in
order to win over converts from the 'Old Religion'.

Mayday celebrations in Europe varied according to
locality, however they were immensely popular with
artisans and villagers until the 19th Century. The
Christian church could not eliminate many of the
traditional feast and holy days of the Old Religion so
they were transformed into Saint days.

During the middle ages the various trade guilds
celebrated feast days for the patron saints of their
craft. The shoemakers guild honored St. Crispin, the
tailors guild celebrated Adam and Eve. As late as the
18th century various trade societies and early
craft-unions would enter floats in local parades still
depicting Adam and Eve being clothed by the Tailors
and St. Crispin blessing the shoemaker.

The two most popular feast days for Medieval craft
guilds were the Feast of St. John, or the Summer
Solstice and Mayday. Mayday was a raucous and fun
time, electing a queen of the May from the eligible
young women of the village, to rule the crops until
harbest. Our tradition of beauty pagents may have
evolved , albeit in a very bastardized form, from the
May Queen.

Besides the selection of the May Queen was the raising
of the phallic Maypole, around which the young single
men and women of the village would dance holding on to
the ribbons until they became entwined, with their (
hoped for) new love.

And of course there was Robin Goodfellow, or the Green
Man who was the Lord of Misrule for this day. Mayday
was a celebration of the common people, and Robin
would be the King/Priest/Fool for a day. Priests and
Lords were the butt of many jokes, and the Green Man
and his supporters; mummers would make jokes and poke
fun of the local authorities. This tradition of satire
is still conducted today in Newfoundland, with the
Christmas Mummery.

The church and state did not take kindly to these
celebrations, especially during times of popular
rebellion. Mayday and the Maypole were outlawed in the
1600's. Yet the tradition still carried on in many
rural areas of England. The trade societies still
celebrated Mayday until the 18th Century.

As trade societies evolved from guilds, to friendly
societies and eventually into unions, the craft
traditions remained strong into the early 19th
century. In North America Dominion Day celebrations in
Canada and July 4th celebrations in the United States
would be celebrated by tradesmen still decorating
floats depicting their ancient saints such as St.
Crispin.

Our modern celebration of Mayday as a working class
holiday evolved from the struggle for the eight hour
day in 1886. May 1, 1886 saw national strikes in the
United States and Canada for an eight hour day called
by the Knights of Labour. In Chicago police attacked
striking workers killing six.
The next day at a demonstration in Haymarket Square to
protest the police brutality a bomb exploded in the
middle of a crowd of police killing eight of them. The
police arrested eight anarchist trade unionists
claiming they threw the bombs. To this day the subject
is still one of controversy. The question remains
whether the bomb was thrown by the workers at the
police or whether one of the police's own agent
provocateurs dropped it in their haste to retreat from
charging workers.

In what was to become one of the most infamous show
trials in America in the 19th century, but certainly
not to be the last of such trials against radical
workers, the State of Illinois tried the anarchist
workingmen for fighting for their rights as much as
being the actual bomb throwers. Whether the anarchist
workers were guilty or innocent was irrelevant. They
were agitators, fomenting revolution and stirring up
the working class, and they had to be taught a lesson.

Albert Parsons, August Spies, George Engle and Adolph
Fischer were found guilty and executed by the State of
Illinois.

In Paris in 1889 the International Working Men's
Association (the First International) declared May 1st
an international working class holiday in
commemoration of the Haymarket Martyrs. The red flag
became the symbol of the blood of working class
martyrs in their battle for workers rights.

Mayday, which had been banned for being a holiday of
the common people, had been reclaimed once again for
the common people.

Hungry student finds Maurizio Cattelan’s $160,000 banana ripe for the taking at Korea museum

Maurizio Cattelan's Comedian – a banana duct-taped to a wall – will be on display at South Korea's Leeum museum till July 16. 

PHOTO: LEEUM MUSEUM OF ART


SEOUL – Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s iconic art piece Comedian – a ripe banana duct-taped to a wall and on display at an art museum in Seoul – was eaten by a college student in an act he described as “artwork”.

The student ate the fruit on Thursday. The work is part of Cattelan’s solo exhibition WE currently running at the Leeum Museum of Art.

At the event showing some 38 works from the 1990s, the student took the banana, peeled it and ate it. He reattached the peel back to the wall using the existing tape.


When the museum staff asked why he ate it, the student, who is an art major at Seoul National University, replied that he skipped breakfast and was hungry.

In a phone interview later with a local broadcaster, he confessed that he thought “damaging a work of modern art could also be (interpreted as a kind of) artwork”. He added that he came up with the idea to reattach the banana peel, thinking it was a fun way of looking at it.

Cattelan’s banana is being replaced every two to three days, according to the artist’s instructions provided before the exhibition. The museum has decided not to claim damages against the student.

This was not the first time the banana was swiped off the wall and eaten.

In 2019, a performance artist named David Datuna took the banana on display at the Perrotin gallery at Art Basel in Miami minutes after it was sold for US$120,000 (S$160,000) and ate it.

A video of Datuna eating the banana with great relish went viral on social media.

The artist’s first solo exhibition in South Korea at the Leeum runs through July 16. 

THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK

G-7 should adopt 'risk-based' AI regulation, ministers say

The Group of Seven advanced nations on April 30 agree to promote "responsible" use of artificial intelligence as they seek to harness rapidly developing technologies such as AI bot ChatGPT at their digital ministers meeting at Takasaki, Japan.

April 30, 2023 

TAKASAKI, Japan (Reuters) -- Group of Seven advanced nations should adopt "risk-based" regulation on artificial intelligence, their digital ministers agreed on Sunday, as European lawmakers hurry to introduce an AI Act to enforce rules on emerging tools such as ChatGPT.

But such regulation should also "preserve an open and enabling environment" for the development of AI technologies and be based on democratic values, G7 ministers said in a joint statement issued at the end of a two-day meeting in Japan.

While the ministers recognised that "policy instruments to achieve the common vision and goal of trustworthy AI may vary across G7 members", the agreement sets a landmark for how major countries govern AI amid privacy concerns and security risks.

"The conclusions of this G7 meeting show that we are definitely not alone in this," European Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager told Reuters ahead of the agreement.

Governments have especially paid attention to the popularity of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT, a chatbot developed by Microsoft Corp-backed OpenAI that has become the fastest-growing app in history since its November launch.

"We plan to convene future G7 discussions on generative AI which could include topics such as governance, how to safeguard intellectual property rights including copyright, promote transparency, address disinformation" including information manipulation by foreign forces, the ministerial statement said.

Italy, a G7 member, took ChatGPT offline last month to investigate its potential breach of personal data rules. While Italy lifted the ban on Friday, the move has inspired fellow European privacy regulators to launch probes.

EU lawmakers on Thursday reached a preliminary agreement on a new draft of its upcoming AI Act, including copyright protection measures for generative AI, following a call for world leaders to convene a summit to control such technology.

Vestager, EU's tech regulation chief, said the bloc "will have the political agreement this year" on the AI legislation, such as labelling obligations for AI-generated images or music, to address copyright and educational risks.

Japan, this year's chair of G7, meanwhile, has taken an accommodative approach on AI developers, pledging support for public and industrial adoption of AI.

Japan hoped to get the G7 "to agree on agile or flexible governance, rather than preemptive, catch-all regulation" over AI technology, industry minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Friday ahead of the ministerial talks.

"Pausing (AI development) is not the right response - innovation should keep developing but within certain guardrails that democracies have to set," Jean-Noel Barrot, French Minister for Digital Transition, told Reuters, adding France will provide some exceptions to small AI developers under the upcoming EU regulation.

Besides intellectual property concerns, G7 countries recognized security risks. "Generative AI...produces fake news and disruptive solutions to the society if the data it's based is fake," Japanese digital minister Taro Kono told a press conference after the agreement.

The top tech officials from G7 - Britain, Canada, the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - met in Takasaki, a city about 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Tokyo, following energy and foreign ministers' meetings this month.

Japan will host the G7 Summit in Hiroshima in late May, where Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will discuss AI rules with world leaders.

 

Iran-Turkey transactions hits $1.3 b in 3 months

TEHRAN, Apr. 30 (MNA) – Iran and Turkey traded $1.379 billion worth of goods in the first three months of 2023 to register a 14% year-on-year decrease.

The latest data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute show that the value of bilateral trade between Iran and Turkey stood at $1.379 billion in the first three months of 2023, down 14%, with Turkish exports at $702 million, up 2%, and Iranian exports at $677 million, registering a 27% decline.

The European Statistical Office (Eurostat) also reported exports of 1.567 billion cubic meters of Iranian gas to Turkey in the first three months of 2023, which shows a 17% decrease compared with the same period of the year before.

Earlier, the spokesman for the Trade Promotion Commission of Iran’s House of Industry, Mine and Trade, Ruhollah Latifi said that China, Iraq, Turkey, the UAE, and India have been the top five destinations for the exports of Iran’s goods over the last year.

AMK/IRN85096674

Russian missile or UFO? Mystery object crashes in Poland: Report

ByMallika Soni
Apr 30, 2023 

Social media users speculated the object to be a UFO. "UFO crashed in Poland, Bydgoszcz," a Reddit post read.

A mysterious object fell down from the sky near Bydgoszcz, a small town in northern Poland, sparking speculation on social media. Local media claimed the object to be a surface-to-air missile with "Cyrillic writing" on it, saying that it belonged to the Russian military, Newsweek reported as tensions run high between NATO and Russia following Moscow's Ukraine invasion.

Local media claimed the object to be a surface-to-air missile with "Cyrillic writing" on it.(Representational)

In November 2022, a missile crossed into Polish territory and was confirmed to have come from a Ukrainian air defense system. Poland's RMF24 radio station reported that initially the object was thought to be a drone, with “inscriptions in Russian”.

But social media users speculated the object to be a UFO. "UFO crashed in Poland, Bydgoszcz," a Reddit post read.

"Is this the object that crashed in Poland? Recorded same day in the same area. If not, hell of a [coincidence]," wrote another user.

With a video in which panoramic footage featuring the same object was seen, a third user questioned the object.

Reports of large "military presence" and temporary restrictions around the site following the fall of the object fuelled several theories suggesting that the Polish authorities were "covering up" an alien spaceship crash site

Human remains campaigners chase UK museums for the ‘skeletons in their closets’ and appeal to King Charles III

As artefacts looted under colonial rule begin to make return journeys, campaigners are increasingly turning their attention to body parts

Mostafa Waziri, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, inspects an ancient Egyptian wooden sarcophagus that was formerly displayed at Houston Museum of Natural Sciences after having been looted and smuggled years before (Photo: AFP/Getty)

By Kieron Monks

April 30, 2023 

Zimbabweans are haunted by their ancestors, says Vusi Nyamazana.

“They are angry,” says the accountant and activist, referring to the spirits of a generation that fought and died in an uprising against British colonial rule during the 1890s.

The remains of warriors were never recovered in many cases, including those of leaders such as Mbuya Nehanda – a national icon who was executed and decapitated by the forces commanded by colonial tycoon Cecil Rhodes.

Many Zimbabwean skulls from the colonial period ended up in the UK either as trophies or objects of scientific study.

The soul sits in the head, according to traditional beliefs, says Mr Nyamazana, and with body and soul disconnected the spirits cannot rest.

The Hararean is part of campaign group Bring Back our Bones (BBOB), which aims to recover the missing remains of the heroes of the uprising, so that their spirits have peace.

The group formed branches in several countries, all of which petitioned the British government. Zimbabwe’s government offered to return the body of Rhodes, buried in Zimbabwe, in exchange for the skulls of the warriors.

In response, the foreign office said that “to the best of our knowledge the remains in question are not held within a UK institution”.

Activists from the ‘Bring Back our Bones’ campaign (Photo: Bring Back our Bones)

The Natural History Museum in London acknowledged that it held Zimbabwean skulls in its collection but said they were not the warriors’. In October 2022, the museum agreed to return 11 of uncertain provenance.

BBOB has no intention of letting the matter drop there, and they are not alone.

The Zimbabwean activists are part of an emerging frontier within the wider restitution struggle. As artefacts looted under colonial rule begin to make return journeys, campaigners are increasingly turning their attention to body parts that were also plundered and often transferred to museums.

Vast collections of remains are kept in museums and state institutions across the western world, ranging from ritualistically shrunken heads from Latin America to Egyptian sarcophagi and, until recently, Congolese revolutionary leader Patrice Lumumba’s missing tooth.

The Natural History Museum is believed to hold around 20,000. The Museum of Mankind in Paris has 18,000 skulls. The British Museum says there are more than 6,000 remains in its collection.

National flag-draped coffins containing the remains of Algerian resistance fighters decapitated during the French colonial rule before being returned from Paris (Photo: AFP/Getty)

Governments and campaign groups in former colonies are making claims on those collections. Algeria is negotiating with France for the return of skulls of anti-colonial fighters. Native Hawaiians are touring European museums in search of their ancestors. Trinity College Dublin has agreed to return skulls to the tiny Irish island of Inishbofin.

In many cases, remains from the colonies – particularly skulls – were used in race science exhibits that reflected the conventional, racist belief in European superiority at the time. This is one factor in a growing taboo around displays of human remains in European museums, with some in the sector arguing these should be considered “displaced bodies”.

Restitution of artefacts such as the Benin Bronzes has been held back by laws preventing museums from dispersing their collections – which are being revisited in several European countries but not the UK. But governments and museums have taken a more conciliatory line on human remains.

The Human Tissue Act of 2004 gave British museums discretion over the return of remains, and museums across Europe have similar powers. The International Council of Museums guidelines advise that requests for returns should be “addressed expeditiously with respect and sensitivity”.

Zimbabwean activists are seeking the remains of revolutionary leader Mbuya Nehanda, left, executed by British colonial forces in the 19th century (Photo: Wiki)

In practice, returns of “literal skeletons in the closets” of museums are often thwarted by a lack of information, says Professor Dan Hicks, curator of world archaeology at Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford.

“It’s always a shock to those who work outside museums how little we know about what is actually in the collections,” he said.

Dr Hicks has tried to establish figures for how many remains are held in UK institutions and their nations of origin without success. Data held by museums is incomplete, he says, suggesting a new approach is necessary.

“The first thing we need is transparency… we have to open up access and knowledge in terms of what’s in the storerooms,” he said.

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Recent cases have highlighted the knowledge gap. The Natural History Museum was unable to say whose skulls they are returning to Zimbabwe. France has returned different skulls to Algeria than the ones requested, including some it cannot identify.

Not all remains are made available for return. Sarcophagi from ancient Egypt are not covered by the Human Tissue Act, which states that the “individual must have died less than 1,000 years before” it came into force. Egypt has sought to reclaim sarcophagi over decades with occasional success.

Museums argue they are taking proactive measures. Pitt Rivers has stopped displaying remains out of respect for the dead and their descendants. The museum has advertised the availability of remains for returns and supplied returns to claimants including India’s Naga community and the Torres Strait Islanders.

The Natural History Museum is working through claims from several countries and has made hundreds of returns, a spokesperson said, adding that the museum would continue to cooperate with Zimbabwe.

BBOB campaigners want to see archives opened and documentation produced for the period the bones were taken. They are considering legal action to compel transparency. Activists intend to produce DNA samples from descendants of the warriors to match them with Zimbabwean skulls held in the UK.

They are aiming higher than negotiating with museums. Mr Nyamazana says that the British monarchy – and the new monarch – are ultimately responsible.

“The Crown issued a Royal Charter in 1889 to [Cecil] Rhodes to conquer our lands,” he said. “Everything he did was in the name of the Crown. It is in this regard that we hold the Crown vicariously liable and answerable for these crimes that were committed.

“We are appealing to the Crown to make amends by instructing her subjects to seek our skulls and return them.”

Tides may be shifting. A recent Belgian government report recommended limiting displays of remains, a ban on commercial trade of remains, and active steps to support claims for returns. New laws are progressing in France that will make it easier for museums to return remains.

Such developments cannot come soon enough for campaigners seeking to be reunited with lost relations.

“It’s a moral and a spiritual issue,” says Mr Nyamazana. “They belong to us and they need proper funerals.”