On Wednesday, the Center for Art Law hosted an event at the Ongpin Fine Art Gallery in London to celebrate the launch of Evelien Campfens’s new book on the subject of Holocaust-era art restitution committees entitled Fair and Just Solutions? Alternatives to litigation in Nazi-looted art disputes: status quo and new developments. Campfens, who is the former director of the Dutch Restitutions Committee, spoke at length about the possibilities and benefits of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in the field of Holocaust art restitution.

There are currently only five national restitution committees hearing claims in this area: those of Germany, Austria, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. One of Campfens’s most compelling points is that the issues raised are invariably international in nature. Why then is there no international commission overseeing (and perhaps steering) the resolution of disputes in this area? This point stimulated much debate and commentary from the audience.

The book, which provides an excellent overview of the various issues arising in the area of Nazi-looted art restitution, is available for purchase here.