Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 22, Number 12, 1 December 2005 — NAGPRA ruling clarified [ARTICLE]

NAGPRA ruling clarified

Review board reportedly amends its decision on Forbes Cave artifacts

By Sterling Kini Weng Publicatiūns Editor Afederal review board has reportedly amended its prior deeision on the repatriation of the eontroversial "Forbes Cave" artifaets to elarify that the board's recommendation should not be used to require the removal of the objects from the cave. According to Edward Halealoha Ayau, executive director of the Hawaiian repatriation organization Hui Mālama i nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i Nei, the review eommittee for the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) made the change to its original recommendation after Ayau testified at the committee's meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico,

on Nov. 17. NAGPRA establishes the guidelines that museums must follow to return Native American human remains and cultural artifacts to groups that have ties to them. In its 2003 recommendation, the review committee said that Bishop Museum should recall its loan of the artifacts to Hui Mālama and that the items should be made available to all the claimant groups to eomplete the repatriation process. The committee then reaffirmed this recommendation during meetings held in Honolulu in September 2004. In Albuquerque, Ayau requested that the body rescind its recommendation, claiming that the committee, whieh only has advisory powers, overstepped its authority by issuing what he

called a "conclusion of law" in the case. Ayau said that while he was disappointed the review committee didn't repeal its ruling, he was pleased that they amended their original recommendation, whieh he believes a federal judge relied upon in September, when he ordered that the objects immediately be removed from the cave. That ruling has since been delayed pending an appeal. The dispute over the artifacts started in 2000, when Hui Mālama accepted the 83 items - whieh include spirit images, carved bowls and other relics - on loan from the museum. Hui Mālama claims that it reburied the objects in the Hawai'i island cave where they were originally found and has refused the museum's repeated requests to return the items. Earlier this year, two groups sued to have the artifacts removed from the cave so that all 14 claimant groups could par-

ticipate in the repatriation process. On Sept. 2, District Court Judge David Ezra ordered the items to be retrieved and placed back with Bishop Museum until the court case was complete. Hui Mālama appealed Ezra's order to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, whieh will hear oral arguments on the case in December. In the end, however, the review committee's recent clarification may not have mueh of an impact on Hui Mālama's appeal. Alan Murakami, attorney for Hui Mālama, said that it's probably too late to introduce the committee's decision into the appeal. But he said that it may not be necessary, because the 9th Circuit judges may eome to the same conclusion anyway. La'akea Suganuma, president of the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, one of the groups trying to retrieve the artifacts, said that he hadn't heard about the review committee's

latest recommendation. But he said that what the review eommittee says now doesn't really matter because the case is now in the courts. "It's a silly game," he said. "It's past that point and its in the judge's hands now." E3

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