Parthenon Sculptures: UNESCO officially announces Athens-London talks on their return

Direct talks on the Parthenon sculptures between the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, and the Minister for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom, Lord Steven Parkinson, announced UNESCO.

UNESCO reports that the United Kingdom has informed it of its proposal to organize a meeting between the Greek Minister of Culture and the British Minister of Culture.

According to UNESCO, it asked Britain to reconsider its position and enter into a bona fide dialogue with Greece on its issue. return of the Sculptures.

The announcement of UNESCO in detail (English)

In the context of Decision 22.COM 5 (9), which “encourages Member States to conduct bilateral negotiations on the return and return of cultural property and to provide the Secretariat with information on ongoing bilateral negotiations and the successful The Secretariat would like to encourage Member States to periodically exchange information on return and rehabilitation cases with the Secretariat. A selection of recent cases is provided below:

The Parthenon Sculpture case was submitted to the Commission in 1984. Since then, the Commission has been examining the case in its successive meetings and has adopted a number of recommendations to reach a mutually acceptable solution, calling on the Director-General to facilitate meetings to this end. On several occasions, UNESCO reiterated its readiness to act as mediator between Greece and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in this regard.

The 22nd session of the ICPRCP (September 2021) adopted Recommendation 22.COM 6 calling on Greece and the United Kingdom to ‘intensify their efforts to find a satisfactory solution to this long-standing issue, taking into account its historical, cultural, legal and moral dimension “(paragraph 9), and calling on the Director-General to” assist in convening the necessary meetings between Greece and the United Kingdom with a view to reaching a mutually acceptable solution to this issue “(paragraph 10). At the same meeting, Resolution 22.COM 6 was adopted, which, inter alia, “calls on the United Kingdom to reconsider its position and enter into a bona fide dialogue with Greece on the matter. [των Γλυπτών του Παρθενώνα]». Following the recommendation, the Secretariat sent two letters to the United Kingdom and Greece in March 2022, requesting information and proposing to facilitate dialogue.

The United Kingdom and Greece responded to the Secretariat on 8 April and 18 April 2022 respectively, describing the steps taken to continue the dialogue on this issue. In this respect,

Both member states mentioned the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in London in November 2021, during which Prime Minister Johnson reiterated the long-standing position of the United Kingdom that this issue remains a credible one for the Trustees. Museum. The United Kingdom has informed the Secretariat of its proposal to organize a meeting between the Greek Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni, and the Minister of Culture, Media and Sports of the United Kingdom, Lord Parkinson, who hopes to receive a positive response from the Greek authorities. In this regard, Greece informed the Secretariat that the proposal of the United Kingdom was sent to the Greek Minister of Culture on April 29, 2022, was immediately accepted and a meeting will be held between the parties “.

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