Decolonising Open Data

Respecting the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples are protesting the unauthorised exploitation and misuse of their traditional knowledge and cultural expressions, often considered by conventional intellectual property law as being in the public domain. However, the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples establishes the principle of free prior and informed consent on the use of traditional knowledge. Backed by this principle, Indigenous peoples demand the right to determine if and how elements of their intangible cultural heritage may be studied, recorded, reused, and represented by museums, especially those representing ceremonial, sacred or secret practices.

To address these issues, the MEG has adopted a policy towards indigenous intellectual and cultural property which pursues a dual objective. Firstly, it seeks to attend the damages past museum practices have caused indigenous peoples. It also aims to establish formal terms and conditions that enable indigenous peoples and culture bearers to study, record and reuse elements of their cultural heritage held in the MEG’s collections, as well as to fully profit from the cultural and economic benefits derived from this heritage.

In accordance with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (inter alia articles 11,12, and 31) the MEG is committed to promoting the respectful use of indigenous cultural and intellectual property. The MEG fully recognises the rights of indigenous peoples to access and control their cultural heritage and determine the conditions of its ownership, use, and conservation, as well as to benefit from any cultural and economic profits it may generate.  

The guidelines of the MEG’s Indigenous cultural and intellectual property policy can be consulted in the following document (cf. p.26 and onward):

https://www.meg.ch/en/media/2441/download?attachment