France’s parliament, on 7th May officially adopted the law aimed at simplifying the process of repatriation of plundered artworks to their home countries.

The adoption came amid preparations by French President Emmanuel Macron, who is more willing to admit the atrocities of French colonial rule than his predecessors, to embark on a visit to the African continent, slated for Saturday. France owns tens of thousands of works of art that it took from its colonial territories.

With the law receiving support from both houses of the French Parliament unanimously on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, French lawmakers are now ready to fulfil the promise made by Macron to African youth during a speech he gave in the capital city of Burkina Faso in 2017.

“It is a historic moment,” declared French Minister of Culture Catherine Pegard, welcoming the decision by the French government to turn a new leaf in history.

Catherine Morin-Desailly, one of the supporters of the bill, observed that it would provide an opportunity where “memory is not robbed from people but shared, and the scars of history turned into conversation starters between nations.”

He made the statement when addressing Ouagadougou right after assuming office in 2017, and observed that, “France will stop interfering in its former colonies, and will return what it stole culturally within the next five years.”

Whereas other countries that colonised are gradually giving back artefacts as part of the effort to restore their imperialism, France faced challenges since it had been constrained to return the items piece by piece according to existing laws. This law provides France with the liberty to give the art pieces back without passing any additional laws. Moreover, the law targets artefacts obtained between 1815 and 1972.

France has received a number of restitution claims, among them those made by Algeria, Mali, and Benin, and more will come after the law has been passed.

In 2025, the French parliament voted on the restitution of a talking drum stolen from the Ebrie tribe by colonial forces in 1916 to the Ivory Coast. The drum was returned in March.

In 2023, France introduced two laws called “framework laws” dealing with two categories of objects: a law allowing the restitution of objects looted from Jewish people during WWII, and a law concerning the repatriation of human remains.