The International Council of Archivists (ICA) is considering adoption of “Basic Principles on the Role of Archivists in support of Human Rights.”
The principles, drafted by ICA’s Human Rights Working Group, are now open for public comment, through Jan. 1, 2015.
Adoption would represent the first time that archivists have drafted a statement about the importance of, and their role in, preserving documents concerning human rights violations.
Eventually they will be considered by the ICA’s Executive Board and the ICA’s General Assembly, possibly in August.
A preamble provides the background for the principles, referring to United Nations documents, civil society statements, and archival precepts. The 23 principles are grouped in six sections.
The first two sections cover the basic archival functions; the third covers the special situations of displaced archives and of archives that appear to document violations of human rights; the fourth through sixth sections are devoted to the roles and rights of archivists as professionals.
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