Repatriation claims and virtual return

The repatriation engine traces displaced heritage and lets you record what happens next. It has two layers:

1. Displaced-heritage register (detection): a read-only, conservative scan that flags catalogue items whose recorded place or community of origin appears to differ from where they are now held. This is a curatorial review aid, not a claim.
2. Repatriation claims and virtual return (this guide): a structured workflow you build on top of any traced item.

What a claim is - and is not

A repatriation claim records a documented request and the stage its dialogue has reached. It is not a legal determination, not a finding of wrongful removal, and not advice. Origin, ownership and lawful-transfer history are for the relevant communities, holding institutions and qualified staff to assess together, case by case, under the applicable law. The framing is deliberately factual and non-partisan throughout, because this is sensitive subject matter.

Registering a claim (admin)

1. Go to Repatriation claims (/repatriation/claims).
2. Select Register a claim. To start from a traced item, open the form with ?item=<information-object-id> - the origin and current-holding context are prefilled from the displaced-heritage register.
3. Fill in the claimant community, place of origin, current holder, a factual evidence summary, a point of contact, and any notes. Choose a status.
4. Save. You can edit a claim at any time; the item it concerns is fixed once set.

Claim statuses

Status describes where a conversation stands, never an outcome:

• Registered - a claim has been recorded and awaits review.
• Under review - the claim and its evidence are being examined.
• Acknowledged - the holding institution has acknowledged the claim; dialogue is open.
• Virtual return - the object is made accessible in its origin context digitally, independent of any physical transfer.
• Returned - a physical return has been recorded.
• Disputed - the facts or the claim are contested and remain under discussion.

Statuses are stored as open text values (via the Dropdown Manager), so a site can add its own without code changes.

Virtual return (public)

Every claim has a public virtual return page at /virtual-return/{id}. It presents the object in its place and community of origin - the origin place, the claimant community, the documented evidence, and the stage of dialogue - so the object can be re-encountered in its own context even when no physical return has happened. A link to the object's own record (with any digital surrogate or 3D viewer) is shown only when that record is published; unpublished items show origin context only.

Public dashboard

A public repatriation dashboard at /repatriation gives an open, at-a-glance overview of every documented claim. It is a read-only aggregate of the same claims register: big numbers (documented claims, dialogues in progress, items under virtual return, items physically returned), simple bars showing where the dialogues stand and the leading places and communities of origin, and a short recent-activity list. Every entry links onward to that claim's /virtual-return/{id} page.

The dashboard is factual, non-partisan and jurisdiction-neutral. A status describes where a dialogue stands, never a legal determination, and the standing disclaimer is shown at the top. When no claims have been recorded it shows a dignified empty-state ("No repatriation claims recorded yet"); it never errors.

A machine-readable version is available at /repatriation.json (CORS-open, public read-only data) so partner sites and external dashboards can re-use the same aggregate. It exposes the totals, the status breakdown, the top origin places and communities, the virtual-return / returned / in-dialogue split, and the recent activity (each carrying its virtual_return_url).

What it does not touch

The workflow writes only to its own displaced_heritage_claim table. It reads the existing catalogue and the displaced-heritage register read-only. It never alters existing records. The dashboard adds no new table: it is a read-only aggregate (cheap COUNTs) over the existing claims register.