Future Perfect? Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Archives-the United Nations in Sudan

摘要

What is it about archives that can assist the process of establishing a peace, maintaining a peace agreement and improving the lives of people in such situations that threaten their existence and the peace of a country or region? It is attempted in this paper to draw a connection between management of information and archives and the promotion of human rights. The example of the United Nations in Sudan is used to highlight the complexities of this endeavour. It is contended that more might be done by the collective Records and Information Management (RIM) community to highlight and promote human rights through outreach, publicity and advocacy at international, national and local levels. It is also incumbent upon us to grasp new ideals-such as knowledge management-for development to invigorate our profession. There is a strong connection between memory, forgiveness and possible reconciliation that has linkages to reconstruction in post-conflict countries. Can we ever justify destruction of an archive for the sake of reconciliation or justice?