Swiss commission ready to mediate disputes over looted art
Applications regarding cultural assets that are the subject of dispute may be submitted to the newly created Commission for Historically Problematic Cultural Heritage.
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.
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