Repatriation
With the Repatriation Project, the Association on American Indian Affairs (AAIA) has built a national and international effort assisting Indian Nations, Tribes and communities in the United States with domestic and international repatriation. AAIA has been a national leader advocating for the repatriation of ancestral remains, burial items, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony for over the last 60 years. The excavation and taking of Native ancestors and burial items from their resting places, and the illicit trading and collecting of sacred objects and cultural patrimony is an indigenous human rights issue recognized by Articles 11 and 12 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). The World Conference on Indigenous Peoples adopted, by consensus of the United Nations General Assembly on September 22, 2014, the following commitment to repatriation: “We commit ourselves to developing, in conjunction with the indigenous peoples concerned, fair, transparent and effective mechanisms for access to and repatriation of ceremonial objects and human remains at the national and international levels.”
Policy Development:
AAIA contributes to the development of legislation, and has provided advocacy for the creation and passage of the National Museum of the American Indian Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, PROTECT Patrimony Resolution, and the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act.
Technical Assistance:
AAIA develops training and technical assistance for Tribes and practitioners on topics including domestic and international repatriation of cultural items, implementing a repatriation program, and developing strategies to obtain repatriation from private collectors domestically and internationally.
AAIA has developed “A Guide to International Repatriation: Starting An Initiative in Your Community.”
Community:
AAIA provides a centralized space for traditionalists, tribal cultural preservation specialists and other experts to collaborate on best practices and create usable guides and templates for others in its Repatriation Working Group.
Conference:
AAIA has established an annual conference on Repatriation.
Policy Development:
AAIA contributes to the development of legislation, and has provided advocacy for the creation and passage of the National Museum of the American Indian Act, the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, PROTECT Patrimony Resolution, and the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act.
Technical Assistance:
AAIA develops training and technical assistance for Tribes and practitioners on topics including domestic and international repatriation of cultural items, implementing a repatriation program, and developing strategies to obtain repatriation from private collectors domestically and internationally.
AAIA has developed “A Guide to International Repatriation: Starting An Initiative in Your Community.”
Community:
AAIA provides a centralized space for traditionalists, tribal cultural preservation specialists and other experts to collaborate on best practices and create usable guides and templates for others in its Repatriation Working Group.
Conference:
AAIA has established an annual conference on Repatriation.
