The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the appointment of a special steering committee to streamline the repatriation of Sri Lankan cultural property and artefacts taken abroad during the colonial era, in accordance with the UNESCO Convention.

The committee, named the ‘Committee for the Restitution of Sri Lankan Cultural Heritage Abroad’, will function under the chairmanship of the Additional Secretary (Cultural Promotion and Foreign Affairs) of the Ministry of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs.

Under Articles 7 and 13 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property, the right to request the return of cultural property held abroad is vested in the respective countries.

As the first phase of this process, action was taken in 2023 to officially return six valuable artefacts to Sri Lanka, including Lewke Disava’s cannon, two large guns, two kastane swords with scabbards, and a knife with a scabbard, which were housed at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The new committee is expected to make a significant contribution by facilitating direct discussions with the Dutch committee on the artefact restitution process and providing the government with the necessary specialised advice on the retrieval of Sri Lanka’s cultural property taken abroad during the colonial period.