13-03-2025
Displaying Egyptian mummies is ‘morally wrong and should be illegal'
Displaying ancient Egyptian mummies in museums is morally wrong and should be made illegal, according to a group of MPs.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Afrikan Reparations has claimed that displaying Egyptian mummies is 'unethical' and disrespects 'wishes of the ancestors'.
The group, chaired by Bell Ribeiro-Addy, a Labour MP, has called for legal changes to make popular displays of ancient mummified remains 'an offence'.
MPs argued in a report called Laying the Ancestors to Rest that changes should be made to the Human Tissue Act 2004, which regulates the storage and display of remains.
The report states that mummies were acquired under 'colonial regimes of exploitation' and that the image of 'the mummy' offers 'exoticised mystique for the Western audience'.
It adds that mummies became 'object of racist pseudoscientific research, including in efforts to evidence that Egyptians were white Europeans'.
Many African academics have attempted to argue that ancient Egyptians were black, a common belief in Afrocentric circles.
Mummies are displayed in museums around the world, including in South Africa and Egypt itself.
MPs in the APPG have, however, called on the UK government to prevent the sale of human remains, and to facilitate their return from museum collections to their countries of origin.
Human remains are held by major institutions including the British Museum, the Natural History Museum and the museum attached to units including Oxford.
Examples include Australian Aboriginal and Native American remains, South American shrunken heads, and bog bodies unearthed in the UK.
During the 19th century, human remains were collected from around the world for scientific and anthropological research, often to provide objects of study in the discredited field of phrenology.
A policy of returning human remains will assist the African diaspora in 'healing from the traumas of enslavement and colonial violence', the report has claimed.
In a foreword to the report, Ms Ribeiro-Addy wrote that the new recommendations address 'the ethical, cultural and historical concerns surrounding African ancestral remains – many of which were taken during colonial rule'.
She added: 'The continued presence of these remains in British institutions causes profound distress to diaspora communities and countries of origin, particularly when they are displayed or sold at auction.'
The report notes that the display of human remains has become increasingly contentious in the 'context of ongoing debates about restitution and reparations '.
Ms Ribeiro-Addy has long called for the UK to pay slavery reparations and in February spoke in Parliament to urge the Government to 'play a constructive role in addressing our country's legacy of slavery and colonialism'.
The APPG for Afrikan Reparations also includes Clive Lewis, a Labour MP who has called for payments to be made to Caribbean nations, and Dianne Abbott, who last year called on Sir Keir Starmer to take action on the issue of reparations.
