At a glance:

• No national laws, policies, or guidance on repatriation
• Recent return to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy shows that there may be the potential for more repatriations in future, particularly from the Musée d’ethnographie de Genève who have a public Repatriation Policy

Jump to:

1. Overview
2. Repatriation Policies
3. University of Geneva’s Database of Restitution Cases
4. Where to Find Collections

Overview

Switzerland did not have any colonies itself, but Swiss entities and individuals did benefit from colonialism.

Switzerland is a confederation, made up of 26 partially self-governing cantons (or regions) and there is a strong sense of independence and belief in cantons making their own decisions.

In June 2021, the Swiss Benin Initiative was launched, which resulted in a report that was published in February 2023. The report found that 21 items in Swiss Museum collections were looted from Benin City and an additional 32 items which were probably looted. These items may be returned to Nigeria, but they have not yet been at the time of writing.

In February 2023, two sacred belongings were returned to the Haudenosaunee Confederacy after a seven month process from the Musée d’ethnographie de Genève. At the time, the museum’s Director Carine Ayélé Durand said that it was important for the museum to take a proactive approach. It is unclear as to whether the museum has started to act on this ‘proactive approach’, but there is no evidence of such at the time of writing.

In April 2024, it was announced that the Federal Office of Culture had appointed Nikola Doll to be in charge of provenance research and looted art for both Nazi looted art and collections from colonial contexts. She is also now the Secretariat of the of the Independent Commission that will adjudicate claims for repatriation (which is due to be created later in 2024) and a new online platform for provenance research.

Repatriation Policies

As there are no national laws or policies on repatriation in Switzerland, I have looked for museums with repatriation policies. I will add to this list as and when I find more.

The Musée d’ethnographie de Genève‘s Repatriation Policy can be found, in French, within their Collections Management Policy. Roughly translated, it says that the policy confirms their commitment to undertake consultations with communities and ‘facilitating the unconditional return of human remains, graves goods, and sacred objects to their rightful owners.’ They will utilise three criteria:

1. Legality – the legality of Geneva’s ownership, the laws at the time of acquisition, and the legal and ethical rights of the claimants and any other potential claimants
2. Separation without prior consent – assessing whether the object would have been considered inalienable by its owners
3. Cultural value – whether the sacred nature of an object(s) makes them unsuitable for public display and scientific research. The request will be assessed taking into account the cultural value of these objects to ensure the wellbeing of the communities concerned.

The claims procedure is listed as follows:

1. Repatriation requests must be addressed officially to the Director of the Musée d’ethnographie de Genève.
2. Requests should state the nature of the request, including inventory numbers and any evidence or arguments in support of the request.
3. The Director will acknowledge receipt of the request.
4. Musée d’ethnographie de Genève will consult with the affected communities to determine the rightful owners.
5. Only the Administrative Council and the Municipal Council of the City of Geneva have the authority to grant the repatriation of ancestors and belongings through an official collection disposal process.
6. Once the Council(s) approve the repatriation, Musée d’ethnographie de Genève will retain title and care for the ancestor(s) and belonging(s) until the owners are ready to receive them.
7. Musée d’ethnographie de Genève will maintain full documentation of all repatriation decisions and ensuing activities.

The Collections Management Policy also goes on to outline their approach to consultation, stating that the museum wishes to offer as many people as possible the opportunity to consult its collections. More information on how to make a request to consult with collections can be found here on their website.

They also have a fully searchable online database of their collections which you can view here.

Although there is only one public example of repatriation from the museum, from what they have made public it would seem they are very open to repatriation claims and getting in touch with the relevant curator about a consultation or for an inventory would be a good first step.

University of Geneva’s Database of Restitution Cases

In 2010, the University of Geneva’s Art-Law Centre launched ArThemis, ‘a fully searchable database containing case notes about disputes over the return and restitution of cultural property’. ‘ArThemis aims to demonstrate the potential of dispute resolution methods alternative to litigation for the settlement of art-related disputes.’

Renold said that ArThemis was set up to ‘understand how disputes are solved with regard to cultural heritage’. The database is now continuing under the UNESCO Chair in the International Law of the Protection of the Cultural Heritage.

The university has now started receiving requests to help mediate in international cultural property disputes.

Where to Find Collections

Generally, to find collections information online you need to locate the relevant museums in Switzerland. Around 1980, the Swiss Museum Federation published two volumes on ethnographic collections in Swiss museums that you may be able to find in a university library. These volumes list all the collections known and located, which means it is slightly easier to find relevant museums.

The North American Native Museum

The North American Native Museum in Zürich has put their collections database online which is available to search here.