CNDH hands archives of Morocco’s truth Commission over to national archives institution
In commemoration of the (international) Human Rights Day (Dec. 10th), the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) will hand the archives of the Equity and Reconciliation Commission over to Archives of Morocco, at an official ceremony on Saturday, December, 9th 2017 in the capital city Rabat.
Morocco’s transitional justice archives, of both the Independent Arbitration Commission ((1999-2003) and the Equity and Reconciliation Commission (2004-2006) have a high symbolic, legal and historical value. Fully aware of this fact, the CNDH launched in February 2017 a project to reorganize and archive all transitional justice documents and files, starting with the arbitration commission’s and later the archives of the truth commission.
The archives of the Independent Arbitration Commission were handed over to Archives of Morocco in July 2017. Now it’s time to implement the second phase of the project that concerns the Equity and Reconciliation Commission’s archives.
Indeed, on December, 9th, 2017, the CNDH will hand 17362 files, in 1239 archival and storage boxes, over to Archives of Morocco. The total number of files handed over by the CNDH will increase then to 22050 files archived in 1480 special boxes.
These documents will be made available for historians and researchers in human sciences to deepen the historical analysis of the human rights evolution in Morocco. They can also help identify lessons and best practices to strengthen democracy and promote the rule of law in Morocco.
An international conference on archives and human rights will also be held on the occasion. The gathering brings together experts in archives, history, transitional justice and human rights, from Morocco, France, Senegal, Cameroon, Brazil and Rwanda.
Exchanging experiences and sharing best practices among archives experts, professionals, researchers and human rights defenders is the main purpose of this international event. The participants will also discuss best ways to collect, process, preserve archives. The gathering will be an opportunity also to tackle and analyse, with a comparative approach, the essential role of archives in the transitional justice experiences and in the protection of human rights.
The conference will be chaired by CNDH President Mr. Driss El Yazami and Mr. Jamaa Baida, Director of Archives of Morocco. The agenda of the event has two main sessions: “Archives, human rights and transitional justice” and “Archives, history and ways of preservation”.
Media contact:
CNDH: Abdelghani Berdi +212 6 62 76 23 25 / a.berdi@cndh.org.ma
Archives of Morocco: +212 662450274