PARIS: French lawmakers on Monday (Apr 13) passed a Bill to simplify the return of artworks looted during the colonial era to their countries of origin.
France still has in its possession tens of thousands of artworks and other prized artefacts that it looted from its colonial empire.
The draft legislation to return them was unanimously approved by the lower house National Assembly late on Monday.
The upper house had unanimously passed the measure in January.
President Emmanuel Macron has made it a political promise to return the cultural items, and has gone further than his predecessors in admitting past French abuses in Africa.
Speaking during a visit to the Burkina Faso capital Ouagadougou shortly after taking office in 2017, Macron vowed that France would never again interfere in its former colonies and promised to facilitate the return of African cultural heritage within five years.
Designed to streamline the process, Monday’s Bill specifically targets property acquired between 1815 and 1972.
Former colonial powers in Europe have slowly been moving to send back some artworks obtained during their imperial conquests – but France is hindered by its current legislation, which requires every item in the national collection to be voted on individually.
France has been flooded with restitution demands, including from Algeria, Mali and Benin.
In 2025, France’s parliament approved the return to Ivory Coast of a “talking drum” that colonial troops took from the Ebrie tribe in 1916. It returned home in March.
The Bill has faced political wrangling in France, with the hard-left France Unbowed party (LFI) arguing that its scope should be extended.
The far-right National Rally party, on the other hand, wants to limit the restitution of colonial-era art only to states which have “cordial” relations with France.
A series of coups in West Africa have brought several military juntas hostile to Paris into power in former French colonies in recent years.
In 2023, France adopted two so-called framework laws to return objects in two categories: one for goods looted from Jewish families during World War II, and another for the repatriation of human remains from public collections.
“NECESSARY STEP”
The passage of the Bill is a “recognition of a moral imperative, a necessary step toward rectifying historical injustices and restoring cultural heritage to its rightful owners”, news outlet China Daily said in an editorial on Thursday.
It added that the Bill is “welcome news” for China, saying that the Chinese Museum inside the Palace of Fontainebleau alone reportedly holds over 1,000 Chinese artifacts.
China Daily said that there has been a growing ethical consensus in recent years that artifacts looted during colonial rule or war should be returned to their origin countries.
“This shift in moral perspective is part of a broader wave to redress the historical injustices of colonisation that extends beyond the political and economic realms into the cultural and museum sectors,” it added, calling France’s move a “beacon of hope”.
It noted that several countries, such as Germany, the Netherlands and Italy, have made moves in this direction.
“Hopefully, France’s initiative will become a new starting point for the global movement to return stolen cultural relics.”