CULTURE AND MIGRATION

118 Culture and migration: a path towards cultural integration of refugees and migrants 2. The Parthenon sculptures must be returned to Greece according to the case law. There is UNHCR Compilation of case law on refugee protection in international law. 195 This Compilation is taken seriously into account during the Refugee Status Determination (RSD). RSD is the legal or administrative process by which governments of UNHCR determine whether a person seeking international protection is considered a refugee under international, regional or national law. RSD is often a vital process in helping refugees realize their rights under international law. 196 According to the existing case law Parthenon sculptures must not be kept any longer by England. There is an increasing jurisprudential recognition of the critical value of cultural treasures to national sovereignty, identity and dignity and a consequent developing recognition of a right in nations to possess and enjoy the keys to their ancient history – by way of recovering from foreign museums or private collections their national cultural symbols. Case law is reflecting an emerging sensitivity to the “value” (in non-commercial terms) of cultural objects and their importance to nations, in a way which might trump claims of private property asserted by organisations or individuals, especially where such objects had been acquired by theft of imperial domination. International law has evolved to a position which recognizes, as part of the sovereignty of a state, its right to reclaim unique cultural property of great historic significance which has been wrongfully taken in the past - a rule that would entitle Greece to recover and reunite the Parthenon sculptures. 197 As a reflection of modern “opinio juris” , many museums – sometimes as a result of state – to – state requests (such as Australia’s request to the UK to allow repatriation of human remains robbed from Aboriginal graves two centuries ago 198 ) have acknowledged at least an ethical duty to return cultural property highly valued by indigenous groups. There is, moreover, an impressive quantity of juristic writing and court decisions that recognize in state sovereignty itself 195. Refworld. Available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/47dfc8e32.html [30.01.2020]. 196. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/ refugee-status-determination.html [30.01.2020]. 197. G. Robertson QC, Prof. N. Palmer QC, A. Clooney “The Case for Return of the Parthenon Sculptures”. 31 July 2015, p. 5-6. 198. The Law Library of Congress, Global Legal Research Center: “Repatriation of Historic Human Remains: Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom”, July 2009. Available at: https:// www.loc.gov/law/help/repatriation-human-remains/repatriation-human-remains.pdf [30.01.2020].