French senators clear path for return of Kali'na remains to French Guiana

The remains of the Kali'na people have been kept in individual, named boxes in the Museum of Mankind archives for 132 years. © Aram Mbengue

French senators are preparing to debate a law that will allow the remains of six Kali'na indigenous people brought to Paris to feature in a human zoo to be sent back to French Guiana, after more than 130 years in the vaults of a museum in Paris.

Pékapé, Counai, Emo-Marita, Mibipi, Makéré and Miacopo have been lying in individual grey cardboard boxes bearing their names at the Museum of Mankind in Paris since 1892.