Unit II: Ethics, Legal and Moral Frameworks

2.7 Safe Havens for Archives at Risk

This case study is written and designed by Anna Villarica. It is adapted from Professor David Sutton's article Safe havens for archives at risk: a new international initiative.

Archives at risk

An archive is an institution that collects, preserves, researches and enables use of records/documents and other material of lasting value generated by the activities of state bodies and institutions, organizations, individuals and families who have had a prominent role in history, communities, and media. Records can take many forms such as reports, registers, letters, photographs, films, maps, digital files and other primary sources (National Archives, 2016).

As witnesses to the past, these provide ‘evidence, explanation and justification both for past actions and current decisions’. (ICA, 2016, para. 1). These documents facilitate education, research and good governance. Archives also help us understand our cultures and build our sense of identity (Cambridge, n.d.). 

Sometimes, archives are threatened in their country of origin, as can be seen in recent headlines from war zones in Sudan and Ukraine. In such cases, archives and other centres of knowledge become strategic targets. Read the flipcard on the right to find out more about these archives at risk in 2023.

Archives may also be at risk due to natural disasters, climate change, or their presence in areas of unstable governance. Archival records in the Marshall Islands, for example, are under threat from sea level rise and extreme weather events. In the video below, people working with the Marshall Islands Nuclear Claims Tribunal discuss the importance of preserving such records. These records have been placed elsewhere for safekeeping. They are now digitally archived in the city of Girona in Spain (audio and video files) and the Swiss Federal Archives (paper files like claim documents and reference materials). This account from the Marshall Islands is among those presented at the 2015 Securing Archives at Risk conference in Bern, laying the foundation for what would later become the Safe Havens for Archives at Risk initiative. 


Bill Graham and Cathy Debrum Wakefield, from the Marshall Islands Nuclear Tribunal, explain the importance of preserving tribunal records

Controversies

As can be seen in the Marshall Islands example, a transfer of archives may be necessary in order to save unique records from destruction. This entails removing the archives from a sending institution and moving them to a receiving or hosting institution. These receiving institutions will provide a safe haven for these important archival materials. However, the transfer of archives from one country to another, no matter how well-intentioned, can be controversial. Issues about access and ownership arise, as well as the asymmetrical relationships between the sending institution and the hosting institution. In the past, archival rescue has been used as a rationale to transfer valuable artefacts from poorer countries to richer ones (Sutton, 2021, p. 87). 

In the absence of guidelines on access and return and proper documentation, it can become difficult to recover deposited materials from hosting institutions later on. This is the case for El Salvadorian archives housed in the United Nations archives, for instance. When the transfer was made, the duration was not specified, nor who was allowed to transfer the archives back to Ecuador. As a result, the records remain at the UN archives 26 years later despite Ecuador’s requests (p. 93). A set of clear guidelines prior to the transfer thus becomes necessary to address or avoid such issues. While archival rescue has been on the minds of archivists for a long time, the push to establish the necessary guidelines was crystallized in 2016. 

Safe Havens for Archives at Risk 

The Safe Havens for Archives at Risk initiative is responsible for the development of these Guidelines. The initiative is helmed by the peace research institute swisspeace. Swisspeace is mandated by the Swiss government to coordinate this initiative.

The guidelines have been developed by an international Working Group – representatives of international and governmental institutions and NGOs that met at a congress in 2016 – that has since become an Advisory Committee in 2019.

The Advisory Committee works on developing the topic of safe havens for at-risk archives, advising swisspeace in requests from sending institutions and helping these find suitable hosts (Safe Havens for Archives at Risk, n.d.). Explore the timeline to understand the development of this initiative and guidelines.

The Guiding Principles

Eighteen principles were agreed upon. These “Guiding Principles for Safe Havens’” for Archives at Risk are ‘a set of principles providing guidance on archival and ethical factors to be taken into account when planning the transfer of analogue or digital archives (or copies) to another institution for safekeeping’ (Sutton, 2021, p.87). After some drafts and revisions, this is the final version:  
These are final 18 Guiding Principles for Safe Havens for Archives at Risk (Sutton, 2021, pp. 90-91).
Read the full, detailed version on the ICA website here. Images: Gmaxwell and Gazal world, Wikimedia


Case studies and applications

In the flip cards below, examples of occasions where the principles have been or could have been useful are outlined. For extended notes on each of the 18 principles and examples of their applications, please refer to the Guiding Principles for Safe Havens for Archives at Risk: A Commentary document by the Advisory Committee for Safe Havens for Archives at Risk.



Author Bio*: 

Anna Villarica is a research assistant on the #dariahTeach project. She is a junior lecturer at Maastricht University currently teaching courses on design thinking, digital transformations, the philosophy of technology, research skills, and museology. She received her MA in Media Studies Digital Cultures from Maastricht University and her BA in Communications and New Media from the National University of Singapore. While she does not specialise in anything (yet), she loves all things digital and is always learning and creating.

*Author bio and affiliation are accurate at the time of writing


References