{"id":6659,"date":"2026-08-25T15:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T12:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/?post_type=report&#038;p=6659"},"modified":"2026-10-13T13:31:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T10:31:48","slug":"restitution-in-practice-from-policy-to-activation-reclaiming-heritage-restoring-dignityrehumanising-africa","status":"publish","type":"report","link":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/resources\/reports\/restitution-in-practice-from-policy-to-activation-reclaiming-heritage-restoring-dignityrehumanising-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"La restitution en pratique : de la politique \u00e0 la mise en \u0153uvre"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In March 2025, University of the Western Cape\u2019s Iyatsiba Lab hosted the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=FzvVfAtY94o&amp;t=1s\" class=\"ek-link\"><em>La restitution en pratique : de la politique \u00e0 la mise en \u0153uvre <\/em>Baraza convening<\/a>, jointly organised by UWC&#8217;s Department of Historical Studies and Open Restitution Africa (ORA). Heritage practitioners, museum professionals, activists, scholars and community leaders gathered to move restitution from policy statement to practical action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"La restitution en pratique : de la politique \u00e0 la mise en \u0153uvre | Open Restitution Africa x UWC\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FzvVfAtY94o?start=1&amp;feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Across the discussions, a shared conviction took shape: restitution is not a single transaction but an ongoing process of justice, requiring new tools, new alliances, and new ways of thinking. Several key themes captured this shift in perspective:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Beyond repatriation<\/strong>: Physical return is only a first step. Museum &#8220;objects&#8221; and human remains must be recognised as living belongings and ancestors requiring proper cultural and spiritual restoration.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Knowledge genocide<\/strong>: Colonial plunder severed intergenerational memory; community-led provenance research, not inaccessible European databases, is essential to recovery.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Claims-based data<\/strong>: ORA advocates shifting from costly external inventories to community-driven &#8220;inside-out&#8221; databases prioritising what communities know they have lost.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>State\u2013community tensions<\/strong>: Restitution requires collaboration between governments and traditional authorities, not top-down diplomacy alone.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Policy gaps<\/strong>: Bureaucratic roadblocks highlight the need for decolonised legal frameworks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Pan-African solidarity<\/strong>: Proposals included a coordinated &#8220;Counter-Intelligence&nbsp;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ultimately, the Baraza Convening affirmed that restitution cannot be reduced to a transaction. It is a shared, ongoing journey of justice, healing and rehumanisation. By centring community knowledge, decolonising bureaucratic and legal frameworks, and building pan-African solidarity, stakeholders can move restitution from policy commitment to lived reality. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>For readers, this resource offers not just a record of what was discussed, but a practical starting point for reimagining how restitution is claimed, coordinated and realised across the continent.<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":6983,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":11},"categories":[20],"class_list":["post-6659","report","type-report","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/report\/6659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/report"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/report"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openrestitution.africa\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}