Today, Dr Jonathan Pugh (of Oxford University), announced that that the DARCA (‘Decision Aid For the Restitution of Cultural Artefacts’) Website is now officially live: https://lnkd.in/evrVzEMc

There is also an accompanying blog post: https://lnkd.in/e4qJx4Kc

‘The decision aid was developed by members of the Uehiro Oxford Institute and the Institute for Art and Law, in collaboration with several external contributors with experience of restitution cases or relevant expertise in ethics or policy-making. The initial interdisciplinary workshop that provided the foundation for this project was funded by the Oxford Policy Engagement Network, and the participation of some members was funded by ANTITHESES: The Discovery Platform for Transformative Inclusivity in Ethics and Humanities Research (grant number 226801).’
(Extract from the ‘About’ page).

I was a member of the Working Group, and would like to take this opportunity to thank Dr Jonathan Pugh of the Uehiro Oxford Institute, and my former Tutor, Alexander Herman of the Institute for Art and Law in London, for listing me as a contributor on the ‘About’ page of the DARCA website.

This is the first online Tool to have ever been developed, to guide ethical decision making in Art Restitution and Repatriation claims.

It is a major contribution in the field of Art Restitution, and I will be featuring it in my forthcoming book about the ‘Mediation of Cultural Heritage Disputes.’

I am attending the launch event at Reuben College Oxford, in March.

Meanwhile, many congratulations to both the Uehiro Oxford Institute at Oxford University, and to the Institute for Art and Law in London, for the launch of this online Tool, which can and will no doubt, be used by Museums and Galleries all over the world, to guide the making of ethical decisions, in these multi-faceted and complex claims, which are more frequent than you might suppose.