Restitution and repatriation of sub-Saharan African art and cultural heritage in museums and private collections is an area of increasing global focus and debate.
博物馆和私人收藏品中涉及撒哈拉以南非洲艺术和文化遗产的艺术品的归还问题引发越来越多的全球关注和争议。

Many of these works are in Western museums and were acquired by European countries from their former colonies particularly through armed pillage, military expeditions, missionary collections, and/or taken without sufficient documentation of consent or adequate compensation. Racist attitudes that underpinned colonialism have, for the most part, not changed, and this makes the debate contentious.
这些艺术品中有很多保存在西方博物馆中，是欧洲国家从曾经的殖民地得来的，尤其利用的是武装掠夺、军事远征、传教士收集等手段，和/或未经正式批准或提供适当补偿就夺走了。支持殖民主义的种族主义态度在很大程度上没有改变，因此争议不断。

In November 2018, president Emmanuel Macron asked for a groundbreaking 258-page report during his tenure on the restitution of African art (The Sarr-Savoy Report), since major museums in the United Kingdom and France (the two major colonial powers) were not addressing the issue.
2018年11月份，埃马纽埃尔·马克龙总统破天荒地要求在他的任期内起草一份258页的关于归还非洲艺术品的报告（Sarr-Savoy报告），因为英国和法国（两个主要殖民国家）的大博物馆都没有解决这一问题。

The report was a positive step in the right direction; it is the first time a European leader acknowledged there was something wrong with Western institutions holding plundered works hostage. 
这篇报告是朝着正确方向迈出的积极一步，这是欧洲领导人首次承认西方有关部门扣留掠夺来的艺术品的行为不妥。

However, little concrete action has been taken since by France or the international museum sector since the report’s release.
但是，报告公布以后，法国或者国际博物馆部门还没有切实的行动。

Macron promised to return objects looted from their African homelands, starting with 26 artifacts from the Kingdom of Dahomey, now Republic of Benin, taken by colonial military leader Alfred Amédée Dodds in 1890. 
马克龙承诺归还从非洲掠夺来的艺术品，要先归还从阿波美王国，即现在的贝宁共和国，掠夺来的26件史前古器物，这些是在1890年被殖民军事领袖陶德将军拿走的。

However, they have still not been sent back.
但是，至今还没有送还。

The French culture minister reportedly asked heritage professionals at a recent symposium in Paris “not to focus on the sole issue of restitution”, but to instead emphasize cultural cooperation with Africa.
据说法国文化部长最近在巴黎召开的研讨会上要求遗产专家“不要只关注归还的问题”，而要重视与非洲进行文化合作的问题。

 

翻译：菲菲