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Archives : extract from ICRC Annual Report 2009
19-05-2010 Annual Report
Reports on all ICRC activities, registers of official decisions and legal and operational correspondence have been stored since 1863 in the ICRC’s archives. The Archives Division continued to create ICRC institutional reference files (about 3,500 files in 2009), and regularly advised ICRC units at headquarters and delegations in the field on management of their records. It also responded to some 800 internal research requests.
To secure important archival holdings created by ICRC delegations, the Archives Division gathered more than 500 additional linear metres in its storerooms. Headquarters units also added to archival holdings, which currently amount to more than 15 linear kilometres. Storage facilities grew scarce, and two new storerooms were therefore on the point of being equipped for use in 2010.
For security and preservation purposes, the Division continued to restore and repack historical archives, focusing on the restoration of more than 600 volumes of prisoner lists that were compiled by the International Agency for Prisoners of War (1914–1923) and have been part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register since 2007. An extensive programme to restore and digitize these archives is to be completed in 2012.
In 2009, the Archives Division handled some 3,700 requests from victims of past armed conflicts and their next-of-kin for official documents such as attestations of detention, mostly related to the Second World War but also concerning the First World War or conflicts that occurred after 1950.
The core objective of ICRC historical research activities is to make the organization’s history more widely known. In this regard, the Archives Division replied to some 1,000 requests for information on the ICRC’s film and paper archives and welcomed external researchers to its reading room for the equivalent of more than 420 working days.
The fourth volume on the ICRC’s history ( De Budapest à Saigon: Histoire du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge 1956–1965 ) was published in 2009 in French.
To mark UNESCO’s World Day of Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October, several ICRC audiovisual archives were presented to ICRC staff, with a view to extending such events to an external audience.
Under the rules governing access to ICRC archives, the organization’s records are subject to a protective embargo for a general period of 40 years and an extended period of 60 years. Hence, records up to 1965 have been opened to the public for consultation. Ahead of the next opening period covering 1966–1970, the Archives Division worked to make an inventory of over 4,500 related files of general archives.
The Archives Division continued to run several projects, including a joint project with Memoriav, an association founded to preserve Switzerland’s audiovisual cultural heritage. This enabled it to preserve and restore its audio archives and the 16mm films documenting ICRC activities for people affected by conflicts between 1950 and 1980.
Another project involved digitization and digital archiving to ensure the preservation of audio, audiovisual and born-digital materials.
The Archives Division remained actively involved in the development of the new ICRC messaging system and user training, with a view to reinforcing electronic records management within the organization.
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