On access and reference: In Canada, church records are providing evidence for the
truth commission that is examining the abuse of First Nations children in the
schools run by the churches in the twentieth century. In Latvia, following the death
of 54 people when the roof of a supermarket collapsed, the records of the
construction company that was working on the building were immediately provided
to investigators. In Germany, the records of the Stasi (the secret police of the former
German Democratic Republic) revealed that pharmaceutical companies from West
Germany and other Western countries tested new drugs in the German Democratic
Republic after paying the government millions for extensive clinical trials in which
at least 50,000 East German citizens served as subjects, often unknowingly. The
German Interior Ministry opened an investigation into the medical trials, and the
Health Minister demanded that no further documents be destroyed at places where
the trials were carried out.4
Government records, records of faith-based institutions, business records: all of them
in the news, all of them containing information relevant to the human rights of the
people whose lives are recorded in or affected by them. In each case, archivists ask:
How were the records preserved, whether in an electronic system or in paper files
Are they retrievable, organized, usable? Were the records aptly appraised for
preservation or destruction? If they were appraised as disposable, is the period of
time before their destruction sufficient for all the rights of living persons to be
satisfied? Are they described such that a person reviewing the description can tell
whether the records have relevant information or not? Is the description easily
available, whether or not the user can visit the archives? Is access to the records
granted to those who need it? And can copies be made, either by the user or by the
archives at a reasonable cost to the user?
Most archives hold records that are useful for human rights purposes. Many of
these records are essential to secure rights and benefits: personnel records, records of
social insurance programs, records of occupational health and safety, records of
military service. Other records help prove civil rights: voter registrations, land titles,
citizenship records. Still others provide evidence of the abuse of human rights, such
as the records of military and police units from periods of dictatorship, even records
of prisons and morgues and cemeteries.
Archivists handling records with human rights aspects deal with concrete legal
issues, questions of broad social policy, and matters of personal professional ethics.
In many nations, this is complex but manageable using the best professional
practice. However, archivists working in nations with weak or failing political
arrangements may find themselves under pressure as they attempt to protect such
records. And all archivists look for support from the profession at large as they seek
to show the archival profession in its best, most competent light.
At the 2003 international conference of archivists (CITRA) held in South Africa,
Bishop Desmond Tutu spoke compellingly of "Liberation, reconciliation and the
importance of the record."5 Inspired, several members of the International Council
on Archives (ICA) decided to form a Human Rights Working Group. During the
following ten years, the Group became increasingly aware of the complex problems
facing archivists as they encounter human rights issues. The Group was also
concerned that several United Nations specialists on human rights issues that
include archival problems have not consulted archivists or the ICA when developing
their reports and recommendations.6 It particularly noted that the United Nations
Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, issued in 2011, made no
mention of the vital importance of the business records in protecting human rights,
and in 2013 the Working Group learned that the Special Rapporteur on the
promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence and the
Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, each called for action that involves
archives but apparently did not consult with ICA or professional archivists.7
In an effort to underline human rights as a core commitment of the archival
profession and to demonstrate to external parties the essential role of archivists in
managing archives that have importance for asserting or protecting human rights,
the Working Group decided to develop a set of basic principles on the role of
archivists in support of human rights. The project was discussed with ICA's Section
of Professional Associations (SPA), which expressed interest in it.8 The Working
Group then organized a drafting party of three people from different countries:
Australia, Italy and the United States.
The drafters first developed a set of points that they thought should to be included in
the document. With these in hand, they turned to the United Nations' statement,
"Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers." This document is part of a suite of
guidelines pertaining to the judiciary and the justice sector that were developed by
UN bodies in the 1980s. The Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of
Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, meeting in Milan in 1985, recommended
that "Member States provide for the protection of practicing lawyers against undue
restrictions and pressures in the exercise of their functions". The United Nations
then convened an international expert meeting on law enforcement in 1987 that
drafted the "Basic Principles". The draft was sent to interregional and regional
preparatory meetings for the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of
Crime and the Treatment of Offenders, and following these meetings, the revised
draft was endorsed by the UN Committee on Crime Prevention and Control. It was
unanimously adopted by the Eighth Congress in 1990 and sent to the United
Nations General Assembly, which officially "welcomed" the "Basic Principles" in
December 1990.'
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TRUDY HUSKAMP PETERSON RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES: THE ROLE OF THE ARCHIVIST
4 Canada 2013-05, 07 and 08; Latvia 2013-11; Germany 2013-05.
5 Tutu, Desmond. 'Liberation, reconciliation and the importance of the record', in: Comma, International
Journal on Archives 2 (2004), 53-55.
6 The International Council on Archives is an official partner of UNESCO on behalf of the world archival
profession, giving it special status to speak on archival issues to United Nations bodies.
7 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/
Publications/GuidingPrinciplesBusinessHR_EN.pdf; A/HRC/24/42 report of the Special Rapporteur on the
promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, to the 24th Session of the Human
Rights Council, 2013-08-28, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/RegularSessions/Session24/Pages/
ListReports.aspx A/68/296, report of the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights to the United
Nations General Assembly, A/68/296, 2013-08-09, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/
RegularSessions/Session24/Pages/ListReports.aspx
8 SPA represents professional associations that are interested in the administration, preservation and use of
records and archives and, through them, it represents the working archivists who encounter human rights
issues.
9 'Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers', http://www.unrol.org/doc.aspx?d=2327; http://www.advocaten-
vooradvocaten.nl/basic-principles/Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the
Treatment of Offenders, Report, A/CONF.144/28/Rev.l http://www.asc41.com/UN_congress/8th%20
UN%20Congress%20on%20the%20Prevention%20of%20Crime/026%20ACONF.144.28.Rev.l%20
Eighth%20United%20Nations%20Congress%20on%20the%20Prevention%20of%20Crime%20and%20
the%20Treatment%20of%200ffenders.pdfDiscussion Guide for the Interregional and Regional
Preparatory Meetings and reports of the meetings, and the report of the Seventh Congress, all at
http://www.asc41.eom/UN_Congress/8th%20UN%20Congress%20on%20the%20Prevention%20of%20
Crime/8th_congress.htm.
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