'They were shamelessly stolen from us' - Cambodia welcomes the Metropolitan Museum of Art's plan to return looted antiquities

People stand outside The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, New York. - Filepic from Reuters

PHNOM PENH (AP): Cambodia has welcomed the announcement that New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art will return more than a dozen pieces of ancient artwork to Cambodia and Thailand that were tied to an art dealer and collector accused of running a huge antiquities trafficking network out of South-East Asia.

This most recent repatriation of artwork comes as many museums in the United States and Europe reckon with collections that contain objects looted from Asia, Africa and other places during centuries of colonialism or in times of upheaval.