The Netherlands and Germany Agree to Return 2,000 Artifacts to Ghana
ARTnews reported that Germany and the Netherlands agreed to return 2,000 culturally significant artifacts to Ghana that were taken during the colonial era, with the announcement made at the Next Steps conference in Accra held last week. The conference was hosted by Ghanaian president John Dramani Mahama and followed a March 25, 2026, United Nations declaration that the trafficking of enslaved Africans and subsequent racialized chattel enslavement constituted the “gravest crime against humanity.” Ghana’s foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, wrote on Facebook on June 20 that the German and Dutch ambassadors presented President Mahama with a catalogue of the objects to be returned, though he did not specify the artifact types or current holding institutions, and a timeline for physical return was not provided. Ablakwa also said Denmark’s foreign minister apologized for Denmark’s role in the transatlantic slave trade and pledged help preserving slave-trade-era castles, while the article situates the move within broader restitution efforts, including the Netherlands’ 2025 agreement to return 113 Benin bronzes to Nigeria and plans to return a 3,500-year-old Pharaonic bust to Egypt.
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This story was covered in Blockbuster Museums, Hot Markets, and Missing Masterpieces