SYDNEY: The University of Cambridge has refused a request by an Australian man to return important Aboriginal artifacts taken by British explorer Captain James Cook nearly 250 years ago.
Rodney Kelly is seeking the return of four spears from the university’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology on behalf of the Gweagal people, who traditionally inhabited southern parts of Sydney, Australia’s largest city.
According the to the university, Cook took the spears following a violent first encounter between Aborigines and Europeans on the shores of Botany Bay in Sydney in 1770. He also took a shield, which is currently held by the British Museum and for which Kelly has also sought repatriation.
The artifacts are recognized as a significant symbol of first contact between the British and indigenous Australians and of Aboriginal resistance to colonization. However, the University of Cambridge has rejected a request for their return lodged by Kelly.
“Removing parts of the Cook-Sandwich collection, which is of great historical, scientific and educational importance nationally and internationally, would cause considerable harm by depriving the collection of its integrity,” a spokeswoman said in a statement to Reuters on Saturday.
The university said the request contained no clear proposal for housing and conserving the spears if they were to be returned, and added it was important that any request for change be made with “accredited representatives of the Gweagal people.”
Kelly, who submitted a formal request for the repatriation of the spears in November last year, claims to be a direct descendant of the Gweagal warrior Cooman, from whom he claims the spears and shield were taken.
However, a report prepared by the University of Cambridge has questioned Kelly’s ability to prove his descent — something disputed by the Sydney man.
“It makes me angry they are trying these tactics to discredit me and my history,” Kelly told Reuters in an interview.
Cook’s landing in Botany Bay on April 29, 1770 marked the first point of contact between the British and Aborigines and preceded the arrival of the first waves of colonists to Australia eight years later.
Two Aboriginal men holding spears tried to resist Cook’s party landing and one was injured by British musket fire, the university says. The Gweagal then retreated and Cook and his crew entered their camp and took the spears and a shield.
According to Kelly, Cooman was the injured man in the historical account, a claim the university says is not well-supported.
Both the Australian Senate and state parliament of New South Wales voted last year to support the repatriation of the artifacts from the British Museum and the Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.
Kelly said he would continue to fight for the artifacts’ return.
“I want to do everything I can to bring those artifacts home for my people and every indigenous and non indigenous person in Australia,” he said.
Cambridge University refuses to return Aboriginal artifacts to Australia
Cambridge University refuses to return Aboriginal artifacts to Australia
UN’s top court opens Myanmar Rohingya genocide case
- The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019
- Verdict expected to impact Israel’s genocide case over war on Gaza
DHAKA: The International Court of Justice on Monday opened a landmark case accusing Myanmar of genocide against its mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.
The Gambia filed a case against Myanmar at the UN’s top court in 2019, two years after a military offensive forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya from their homes into neighboring Bangladesh.
The hearings will last three weeks and conclude on Jan. 29.
“The ICJ must secure justice for the persecuted Rohingya. This process should not take much longer, as we all know that justice delayed is justice denied,” said Asma Begum, who has been living in the Kutupalong refugee camp in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district since 2017.
A mostly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s and have faced systemic persecution ever since.
In 2017 alone, some 750,000 of them fled military atrocities and crossed to Bangladesh, in what the UN has called a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
Today, about 1.3 million Rohingya shelter in 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar, turning the coastal district into the world’s largest refugee settlement.
“We experienced horrific acts such as arson, killings and rape in 2017, and fled to Bangladesh,” Begum told Arab News.
“I believe the ICJ verdict will pave the way for our repatriation to our homeland. The world should not forget us.”
A UN fact-finding mission has concluded that the Myanmar 2017 offensive included “genocidal acts” — an accusation rejected by Myanmar, which said it was a “clearance operation” against militants.
Now, there is hope for justice and a new future for those who have been displaced for years.
“We also have the right to live with dignity. I want to return to my homeland and live the rest of my life in my ancestral land. My children will reconnect with their roots and be able to build their own future,” said Syed Ahmed, who fled Myanmar in 2017 and has since been raising his four children in the Kutupalong camp.
“Despite the delay, I am optimistic that the perpetrators will be held accountable through the ICJ verdict. It will set a strong precedent for the world.”
The Myanmar trial is the first genocide case in more than a decade to be taken up by the ICJ. The outcome will also impact the genocide case that Israel is facing over its war on Gaza.
“The momentum of this case at the ICJ will send a strong message to all those (places) around the world where crimes against humanity have been committed,” Nur Khan, a Bangladeshi lawyer and human rights activist, told Arab News.
“The ICJ will play a significant role in ensuring justice regarding accusations of genocide in other parts of the world, such as the genocide and crimes against humanity committed by Israel against the people of Gaza.”
