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The 1973 world’s first conference on the abolition of torture drew more than 300 delegates representing over 70 countries and international organizations. It opened with the news that the United Nations General Assembly had passed a resolution condemning torture. More than three-quarters of the world’s nations still engage in torture, which is notoriously difficult to study because it often occurs in secret.

Thousands of Kenyans were held in detention camps, and the British imperialist government tried to cover up brutal violations that occurred there.

While the Genocide Convention has helped raise awareness and prevent ethnic violence from escalating, it has not stopped many accusations of genocides, including violence in Darfur and in Ukraine.

Colonialists daily reinforced a hierarchy that allowed white people to abuse Africans.

Despite its historic importance, Sharpeville itself has remained unknown and its residents anonymous, yet they have a story to tell.

The author's work on the Legacies of British Slavery project traced how the profits of slavery were invested in Britain. Research of this kind raises questions about reparations and whether responsibility, today sits with individuals, organisations or the state.

Climate-change-induced migration has been linked to the risk of human-trafficking and modern slavery, a new study from the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham has found.

El presente artículo tratará de aproximarse a las diversas formas de gestión de la información y su administración y a la capacidad de los Estados para controlar y vigilar el cumplimiento del respeto a la privacidad de las personas por parte de las empresas, tanto en sus propios negocios, como en su calidad de suministradoras de servicios en apoyo a la administración pública. Profundizaremos especialmente en cómo se utiliza la información de las personas y en qué medida la inexistencia de...

The implementation of electronic records management at the Council of Europe was a crucial step in leading the intergovernmental human rights organization towards comprehensive corporate information management. The motivation for introducing records management was to improve access to information. Finding information proved to be difficult due to the fragmented information landscape, combined with a lack of governance for digital information. To amend this situation, corporate control and...

A la mémoire de Cristina Bianchi (1957-2017), membre actif du groupe jusqu’à sa disparition prématurée en 2017, et de Louis Joinet (1934-2019) dont le soutien a été déterminant. La création de la Section Archives et droits de l’Homme du Conseil International des Archives est l’occasion de faire le bilan du travail accompli par le groupe de travail dont elle est issue et de tenter d’en évaluer l’impact. Les actions de sensibilisation menées depuis 2003 en direction des défenseurs des droits...

In 2019, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) celebrated 70 years of consultation, consensus and conflict prevention. The same year also marked 20 years since NATO first opened access to its archives to the public. The establishment of the NATO Archives in 1999 was hailed by then Secretary General Javier Solana as an important signal of the Alliance’s commitment to transparency and openness. NATO declassified and publicly disclosed thousands of documents and opened a dedicated...

This article describes the process of creation and discussion of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Records and Archives Management Policy, the first such policy ever issued by the Secretariat, after 25 years of existence. It outlines, firstly, the methodology followed to assemble and articulate the Policy, and its alignment with the standards and best practice followed by other international organizations; secondly, how the Policy was presented to different stakeholders and approved; and...

Seventy-five years ago (1945), the United Nations (UN) was founded in San Francisco by 50 nations. There, a small archives unit served to assemble the first records of the organization; this was the first iteration of today’s Archives and Records Management Section (ARMS). Throughout its history, the fortunes of the UN Archives have waxed and waned, while its role has continuously evolved. Trying to carve out a place for itself within the largest international organization in the world, its...

Records and archives containing information relating to grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law represent a fundamental source for, and can become trustworthy documentary evidence within, Dealing with the Past (DWP) processes including truth commissions, criminal tribunals, reparation programs, vetting processes and outreach projects. Those intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) working in the fields of...

While the Council of Europe as an Intergovernmental Organization has proven remarkably resilient, its archives and records appear to be increasingly fragile. This article documents and analyses the development of records management and archives management within the Council of Europe between 2000 and 2003. This was a period that saw major changes in the way that records were treated in the organization, notably the preparation and implementation of an organization-wide archives policy, and...

Following the institutionalization of the Policy on the Public Disclosure of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Information in 2008, the NATO Archives tasked itself to regularly exhibit publicly disclosed NATO documents, video, audio, photos, publications and artifacts to promote the increasing accessibility of its collection. The success of these exhibitions, which were all initially displayed at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, led not only to a boost in the visibility of the NATO...

L’article présente les étapes historiques du mouvement autochtone international, notamment depuis sa revivification dans les années soixante-dix. Les délégués autochtones venus défendre leurs droits devant diverses institutions ou mécanismes se sont alors rendu compte de la nécessité de la conservation de leur parole au niveau mondial, conservation nécessaire à leur plaidoyer. Si cette conservation peut paraître neutre par nature, elle est au contraire très sensible, ce qui explique pourquoi...

Desde la última década del siglo XX, los informes de los relatores de las Naciones Unidas como Joinet, Orentlicher o Pablo de Greiff han tomado conciencia del papel de los archivos en el esclarecimiento de la verdad, la impartición de la justicia, la reparación a las víctimas y las garantías de no repetición en el caso de las violaciones de derechos humanos. Sin embargo, los derechos humanos no solo se violan en guerras y regímenes dictatoriales. Las empresas, especialmente las...