Repatriation of human remains

City of York Council did not have the information requested.

Maciej Wójtowicz

Dear Sir or Madam

REPATRIATION OF HUMAN REMAINS

I am carrying out some research into the storage, retention and repatriation of non-European ethnological human remains held in UK regional museums or archives some of which are owned, managed or funded by UK local authorities.

To assist with this could you please let me have the following information under the Freedom of Information Act. All of these questions relate to human remains that are under 1,000 years of age. If your organisation is not covered by the Freedom of Information Act please consider supporting this research anyway and providing the information voluntarily. A link to the research will be provided to all contributers when it is published:

1. How many non-European human remains do you have in your collection or collections managed by organisations which you fund or control? If you do not have the exact number then please provide an approximation based on your normal method of counting.

2. How many human remains do you have in your collection which originated in:
a. Canada
b. New Zealand
c. Australia

3. How many requests for the repatriation of human remains have you had from communities, individuals or institutions outside of Europe since the Human Tissue Act 2004 came into force?

4. Of these requests, how many were:
a. Approved in full, with all of the requested remains being returned to the communities/individuals in question.
b. Approved in part with some of the requested remains being returned.
c. Not approved.
d. Still awaiting a decision.

5. For those requests which were not approved please provide a copy of the final decision letter setting out the reasons.

6. How many human remains have you repatriated to their country of origin proactively without receiving a request?

Thanking you in advance for your assistance with this important research project which should help to reconnect numerous Indigenous communities with their lost ancestors.

Yours faithfully

Maciej Wójtowicz

foi@york.gov.uk, City of York Council

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Croft, Charlie, City of York Council

2 Attachments

Thank you for your FOI request. 
 
The council holds no information relating to your request. 
 
For information, the council's museum collections are held by York Museums
Trust, see: [1]https://www.yorkmuseumstrust.org.uk/ and York
Archaeological Trust, see: [2]https://www.yorkarchaeology.co.uk/ You might
therefore wish to consider contacting these organisations for information.
 
If you are dissatisfied with our response you have the right to ask for a
review of how your enquiry was handled and responded to. This can be done
by contacting us through [3][City of York Council request email] stating your reason(s) why you
are dissatisfied. If you remain dissatisfied after receiving the review
response you
can contact the Information Commissioner, contact details below:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a
national rate number
Fax: 01625 524 510
Or email: [4][email address] (please include your telephone number)
 
 
Charlie Croft | Assistant Director (Communities and Culture)  
t: 01904 553371 | e: [email address]
 
City of York Council | Children, Education and Communities
Station Rise | York YO1 6GA
[5]www.york.gov.uk | [6]facebook.com/cityofyork |[7]@CityofYork
 
 

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