90% of Africa’s Historical Heritage Is Outside the Continent, AU Council Official Says

Mohamed Haroun, deputy president of the African Union’s Economic, Social and Cultural Council for Central Africa, said 90% of Africa’s historical heritage is held outside the continent.

Haroun linked the recovery of African cultural property directly to the concept of reparative justice, framing restitution as a matter of redress.

His remarks placed the question of returning cultural property within a broader discussion of justice, rather than treating it solely as an issue of where heritage is housed.

The figure cited by Haroun underscored the scale of the restitution issue as he described it, with the vast majority of the continent’s historical heritage located beyond its borders.