ABSTRACT
Human remains and sacred objects continue to be displayed and stored in museums all over the world and are the subject of on-going repatriation campaigns particularly by Australian Aboriginal, Native American, and African groups; but museums also receive repatriation requests from nations in Europe, Asia, and other parts of the world. In Australia, Michael Mansell, a lawyer with the Aboriginal Legal Service, and Bob Weatherall, of the Foundation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Research Action (FAIRA), have lobbied museums and visited several overseas in efforts to obtain the repatriation of Aboriginal remains. Native American groups are becoming much more effective in their campaigns. Organisations such as the Native American Rights Fund, the American Indian Movement, and the American Indians Against Desecration, represent tribal groups, liaise with museums, and lobby Congress. They are asking for their cultural treasures and the bones of their ancestors to be accorded the respect and appropriate treatment that one would expect for sacred objects and human remains in one's own society.
