post. this is. returning african ata french commission recommends legal changes to colonial era artifacts to be returned to their countries of origin so we'll see where in europe follow suit also on the program. called between the rock hall spain for written guarantees it will have a say. otherwise it threatens to reject the u.k.'s divorce deal with the e.u. and said sunday something might go ahead. on three d.

activists honored with the alternative nobel prize even though they're still behind us. about their struggle to push for reforms in the gulf and. a welcome to the program french commission has recommended legal changes to allow african works of art to be returned to their countries of origin it follows up on a promise made by president emanuel not a year ago to return african artifacts stolen during france's colonial era and proving he means business he's already agreed to return twenty six works to me moves being seen as a milestone that could increase pressure on museums elsewhere in europe to follow suit in a paris museum on the banks of the send a palace of african art. but the seventy thousand works here have

a troubled past many of them were torn from their cultural home during the colonial era a new report commissioned by french president emmanuel mccall says that france must return the art it stole. the authors found that as much as ninety five percent of subsaharan african art is held outside the continent. in between a country with a renowned art legacy france's move is being hailed as a step toward justice. by returning property is not a matter of victory for someone or failure for others because in the end it's not a battle. he needs these assets to strengthen its national economy to provide employment and also for all the cultural heritage manages and curators in this country. back in paris some resistance french our dealers are say well

what is a belong to and hasn't been in that country for over a hundred years and you know look france built the whole music able lead to respect these objects to preserve them to show them so it's a tricky thing i mean i'm actually kind of in favor of it but i'd like to see how it gets. completed france's wholesale return of looted african art would be historic and could trigger a response from other european countries with colonial era holdings. chica ok. to stand professor of african art and african diaspora at princeton university in the united states is here above and speaking at a symposium on the legacy of colonialism at the good institute welcome to d w. is this an important decision from france or african countries been looking for this for some time well it's an acknowledgment of. demands that have been made for

a long time by african states africans. african activists who have been for a long time calling for the rest of the important cultural properties and materials and objects that were stolen away expropriated by europe during the age of empire be expropriated is a nice long word for just stolen i mean trade by the way the answer is that they got if answers like they did in fact get right when they when they said so all that stuff that you just took while you were plundering our country will you please give it back what was that what sorts of answers were they getting back from that well there have been all kinds of and. you know. given for these demands at some point there were these sort of calm video and arguments about the

fact that many of these objects ended up in these so-called universal museums that had the mandate to curator world cultures and therefore natural homes for these objects regardless of how they came to the west now this is this sounded like a great argument ten years ago but now we're at a place where such arguments are. indefensible i mean when they say the world these african countries don't have the facilities to probably look after and display these artifacts and do what you say so that. it is the classic rest. of a thief you know a b.m.w. seems to end badly and. demand in that the owner of the car has to build a new facility for aids otherwise he will retire and there's still an object so

just stop your nonsense. from nigeria countries like nigeria have to if they're being tracking who took these things or where these objects are now. that's him much more complicated process but there are objects that we know where they are who took them how they took them and the fact that they have not returned them and the classic case is the one about royal binning objects been in bronze is now where looted by british soldiers in one thousand nine hundred seven and this these are meticulously documented by the british and we know when they auction them off a year later we know where these things reside in the present day so there are no questions about certain of these objects that we know who to them and we're asking for them to be returned it's ironic the theft was so meticulously recorded. of them

. so do you think that now that this started in france do you think that this is likely to snowball do you think other countries other form a colonial power without looking at the museums and thinking well someone's going to come knocking well that's the problem the point is that there's no going back. the point is that it precedence has been set by the leader of a western nation and so the question is what is the british government going to say what is their position what is the american what is the german what is the danish they will now have to decide where these states on this question. is to return are not to return and we need to know their position going forward so the present is on them good so he thanks for joining us sir professor gulu from

princeton university thank you thank you so much. for spain's prime minister says sunday's e.u. summit to endorse the deal could be in jeopardy if his country doesn't receive the assurances it wants. better sanchez was speaking at a press conference in cuba syria where the if there's no deal. then it's clear that the european council summit will not go ahead. gibraltar's of british terrorists overseas territory on the southern tip of the iberian peninsula which spain ceded to britain more than three hundred years ago madrid has long sought to reclaim. this from t w correspondent barbara very still in brussels welcome back but never a dull day as well as saying it will veto it if it doesn't get its way spain is not saying that there will also be no e.u. summit on sunday can spain do this. they can sure they

can i mean never every one of the european leaders could at the last moment sort of say i actually don't like this turn around and go home but it is a remarkable case of political grandstanding and it is also a very strange turn around because the question arises has to spain spend representative who has been present throughout these negotiations in the last year to have totally been asleep on his feet or what was the matter why didn't he notice earlier that things were not going the way that the spenders want them. now the problem we have is that spain isn't even content it was having a written declaration that it's rights and desires it was regarded in future negotiations but also they wanted to open the divorce agreement this is the five hundred eighty five the pages long. legally binding tome and they want to stick the

gibraltar thing in there and that is more complicated because basically it's supposed to be closed so we do really not envy the sharpest of the e.u. governments we're still sitting together here in brussels and trying to solve this problem because it's well known in the e.u. you do have these things up to the last seconds. before midnight but that spain would do this to them nobody expected it so i was just like because then to be regarded is this is this an unexpected problem that is to be expected when you do this sort of deal or is this a big thing. it is a big thing because it came flying out of the dark and the question really is why hadn't spain sort of said what we want them so that within the divorce agreement and they simply have been watching the process really nobody notices whatever it's not that unusual but it is very unwelcome and pedro sundress the spanish prime

minister is really not making any friends in brussels among his colleagues here in sort of now stopping everything just before they are getting ready to get this get this out of get this finished and get it off the table so we'll see how this pans out but it doesn't really heighten the mood but eventually brussels thank you suddenly has been held in stockholm receiving for the winners of this year's bike livelihood awards often referred to as the alternative nobel awards recognize the people whose work offer solutions to global problems this year's winners include and corruption rich from latin america the farmer from bikini faster in africa but through the with all that in the absence three human rights activists from saudi arabia are still serving prison terms for pushing for reforms within the kingdom.

they dared to pick a fight with the saudi royal family professor up to the need the lawyer. and the economist mohammad khatami in a country where women only recently gained the right to drive cars they fought for women's rights but they also defended freedom of expression and demand reform of the authoritarian political system in saudi arabia for this they were awarded the alternative nobel prize the three men did not pick up their war personally however the laureates were sentenced to between ten and fifteen years imprisonment and all are currently in jail after being convicted of charges relating to their human rights activities the jury in stockholm considers them role models. but even as prisoners of conscience. are a great source of inspiration and hope for the people of saudi arabia and the wider gulf region. co-founders of the saudi association for political and civil rights which was forbidden by the royal family but the award in the ensuing media

attention focuses a spotlight on the state of human rights in the gulf state and saudi arabia the death penalty is an integral part of the penal code not only convicted terrorists are sentenced to death but also shiite academics for example or adulterers homosexuality is treated as a criminal offense if women wish to renew their passport or open a bank account they need permission from their husbands fathers or uncles. but the first tentative hints of reform have emerged in two thousand and three there was a so-called national dialogue with other islamist groups like the shiites and sufi's. in two thousand and fifteen women had their first chance to vote and even run as a candidate albion only in local elections and campaign posters with images of women were forbidden. the first woman to serve as ambassador to saudi arabia assumed her position a few days ago belgium's dominique munira despite such creeping reforms saudi

arabia remains an absolute monarchy the fates of abdulla. and mohammed. are proof of this. start your mind of our top stories this hour a french commission is recommending legal changes that will allow frogs to be looted african art works the country's most of the works were taken during french colonial rule in the nineteenth and twentieth century. spain is increasing the pressure on the u.k. over the head of sunday's e.u. summit which was meant to stop the deal between britain and the e.u. mccarter in with regarding safe madrid is demanding written commitments on the status of gibraltar as part of that deal. and three human rights activists from saudi arabia and an african pharma tackling to certification are amongst this year's winners of the award known as the old nobel and being on the seventy eight

i've been saving in the swedish capital stock. that's it you're up to date at the top of the around the clock on the website that's t w dot com. climate change. waste. pollution. isn't it time for good news. for a couple of people and projects that are changing our environment for the better it's up to us to make a dearth.