Written question asked by Baroness Young of Hornsey (Crossbench) on Tuesday, 14 May 2024, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 29 May 2024. It was answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative) on Thursday, 23 May 2024 on behalf of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

St Helena: Exhumation

Question: To ask His Majesty's Government what forms of consultation and engagement with ancestral, descendant, and diaspora communities on St Helena and beyond have been carried out since the ancestral human remains there were exhumed in 2008.

Answer: The St Helena Government was responsible for the reburial of the remains and set up a Liberated African Advisory Committee to create a master plan for their respectful reinternment and to create a memorial and interpretation centre to honour those who died. The Committee consulted the island's community, National Trust and custodians of international enslavement sites around the world. The UK Government provided support for the reburial which took place on 21 August 2022 with the extensive involvement of the local community.

Secondary information