CGTN Poll: Over 90% of respondents urge Britain to return looted artifacts

The dispute between Britain and Greece around recovering cultural artifacts is still ongoing. As a globally renowned museum, the British Museum has recently been thrust into the international spotlight once again since much of its collections are derived from colonial expansion and war looting. A recent global online poll conducted by CGTN showed that 80.8 percent of respondents believe that the British Museum's collection of these looted artifacts is completely unjustified; 90.3 percent of respondents believe that the cultural artifacts looted through colonial expansion and war should be returned to the country of origin as soon as possible to avoid the continuation of colonialism.

Most of the cultural artifacts in the British Museum bear the marks of looting and theft. Over the years, many countries, including Greece, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt and Chile, have been seeking to recover looted artifacts from the British government but have been denied on the grounds of so-called "safeguarding the security of the artifacts." However, the rejection was based on the British Museum Act, amended by the British Parliament in 1963, which prohibits the return of any collection. In this regard, 91.1 percent of the global respondents expressed strong opposition to the British government's approach, which was considered totally unreasonable and illegal. Another 92.3 percent of the global respondents called on the British government to seriously listen to the voices of the recovering countries and respond to the concerns of the international community with decent and responsible action.

In addition to the unpleasant history, these cultural artifacts also face the problem of their own safety. In August this year, it was revealed that about 2,000 pieces of the British Museum's collection were lost, and some were even sold on the internet. In this regard, 88 percent of global respondents are deeply concerned about the British Museum's capacity to preserve cultural artifacts and believe that the UK's claim of "protection and security of cultural artifacts" is very hypocritical. As a netizen said, "Some European countries are 'safe houses' for stolen cultural artifacts from other countries, and they steal under the guise of guarding and protecting cultural artifacts." Another 91.1 percent of respondents believe the British Museum should bear compensation and legal responsibility for these stolen cultural artifacts.

Cultural artifacts are the continuation and carrying of a country's culture, as well as its cultural heritage of the country. In the survey, 91.5 percent of the global respondents said that the best place for these looted cultural artifacts is to return them to their original owners; 92.1 percent of global respondents strongly called on the international community to promote more binding and enforceable rules under the framework of international law and to promote the formation of a mechanism for the recovery and return of looted artifacts to make those displaced artifacts return home as soon as possible.

The survey was released on CGTN's English, Spanish, French, Arabic and Russian platforms, with 18,103 netizens voting and expressing their opinions within 24 hours.

(Cover: Visitors view the Parthenon Marbles, a collection of stone objects, inscriptions and sculptures, also known as the Elgin Marbles, in the British Museum in London, Britain, January 9, 2023. /CFP)