Swiss Commission Ready To Mediate Disputes Over Looted Art

(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Applications regarding cultural assets that are the subject of dispute may be submitted to the newly created Commission for Historically Problematic Cultural Heritage. This content was published on September 30, 2026 - 14:18 1 minute Keystone-SDA

Deutsch de Kulturgüter-Kommission ist ab sofort bereit für Gesuche Original Read more: Kulturgüter-Kommission ist ab sofort bereit für Ge

Former Swiss President and Commission Chair Simonetta Sommaruga, along with Vice-Chair Felix Uhlmann, briefed the media on Wednesday in Bern. The Commission has now adopted the procedural rules for dealing with such individual cases, which the legal scholar Uhlmann discussed at the conference.

It will thus act as a mediator between the parties where there is a prospect of reaching an amicable agreement. If not, proceedings will be initiated, culminating in a non-binding recommendation. This applies to objects from the Nazi and colonial contexts.

In September, the committee consulted federal institutions on their handling of cultural property with a potentially controversial history. It also intends to seek dialogue with museums outside the federal sphere. One priority is to carry out an inventory of human remains in Swiss collections that came to be held there in a context of injustice.

More More Swiss diplomacy Why are human remains from the colonial era stored in Swiss museums?

This content was published on Sep 21, 2026 At least 4,000 human remains from the colonial era are still held in Swiss museums. A cultural anthropologist explains how this came about.

Read more: Why are human remains from the colonial era stored in Swiss mus

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