Museum to return more human remains to Hawaii

National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI) is to return further human remains to Hawaii.

Human remains and other sacred objects were previously repatriated by NMNI to Hawaii in 2022.

That came after NMNI had identified some items stolen from other countries or connected to the slave trade among its collections.

It has now located three additional ancestral human remains (iwi kūpuna) taken from Hawaii in 1840 and plans to return them.

William Blair, from the National Museum Northern Ireland Director of Collections, (NMNI) told BBC News NI that the museum was "fully committed to the rightful repatriation of collections to source communities, to address historic wrongs and implement the decolonisation of collections."

"We welcome the opportunity to work with and learn from partners such as the Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) and Hui Iwi Kuamo'o to undertake this vital work and, as we do so, to build strong relationships based on ethics, respect and empathy."

He said the remains and sacred objects had been taken from Hawaii in 1840 "without free, prior and informed consent from families."

He also said that "given the 19th Century provenance of the iwi kῡpuna being brought to Belfast and the lack of professional collection management standards at the time," they had been unable to locate three sets of remains in 2022.

"Through our ongoing processes of collections reviews and documentation projects, in alignment with formal professional standards, National Museums NI was able to locate the missing iwi kῡpuna in November 2024."

"We immediately notified Kamakana Ferreira, Lead Compliance Specialist at OHA, as he was involved with the original claim."

BBC News NI has also contacted the OHA for comment.