The International Council on Archives (ICA) brings together a dynamic network of Professional Sections, Expert Groups, and Working Groups that connect archival professionals across regions, disciplines, and areas of practice. These communities are at the heart of ICA’s mission to strengthen archival standards, promote access to information, and support the protection of documentary heritage worldwide.
Aligned with the theme of International Archives Week 2026 – #ArchivesForJustice: Rights, Memory & Futures, ICA Groups explore how archives can actively support human rights, accountability, inclusion, decolonisation, and future-oriented archival practice.
Through collaboration, research, guidance, and advocacy, these groups help shape how archives respond to global challenges and societal change.
Key ICA Groups Contributing to #ArchivesForJustice
These ICA Professional Sections, Expert Groups, and Working Groups were directly involved in shaping and developing the theme for International Archives Week 2026 – #ArchivesForJustice: Rights, Memory & Futures, ensuring it reflects the diversity of global archival practice and the most pressing issues facing the profession today.
They work year-round to develop resources, guidance, and practical tools that strengthen archival practice worldwide and support professionals in advancing more inclusive, ethical, and future-ready archives.
Below are reflections and quotes from the Chairs of each ICA Group on how the theme #ArchivesForJustice: Rights, Memory & Futures connects to their work, priorities, and ongoing contributions to the archival field.
“The Section on Archives and Human Rights (ICA/SAHR) has “Archives for Justice” as its core mission, so we are enthusiastic about the theme of this year’s International Archives Week. Archives are not passive repositories of the past; they are active instruments of accountability, democratic renewal, and social transformation. We work on the critical relationship between documentary heritage and the pursuit of truth, justice, memory, and reparation. You can follow our work by subscribing to our monthly Newsletter, by attending our bi-monthly webinars (First Tuesday Talks), or by consulting our Rights and Records Knowledge Base. Even better: you can become a member of our Section! You may then, if you wish, actively contribute to one of our activities, for example by joining a project team, translating texts, providing news items to the Newsletter, or sharing ideas for topics of the webinars.”
Jens Boel
ICA/SAHR Chair
“The theme of this year’s International Archives Week, Archives for Justice, is very relevant to the Section for University and Research Institution Archives. We provide networking, training opportunities and conferences for members as well as developing resources to support people working in this sector. Archival collections in universities and research institutions contain material that is used to support justice by providing evidence and preserving the stories of individuals and groups. Our members are increasingly working with communities on collaborative projects and seeking to ensure a range of voices are represented in their archives.
Recent projects by the Section have focused on these areas including webinars, conferences and resources on archival ethics and on diversity and inclusion. We hold online informal discussions 6 times a year and topics have included human rights, archival erasure, human rights, AI and migration; all are welcome to join these conversations. Our annual conferences provide an opportunity to exchange ideas and best practice and to enjoy meeting archivists from all over the world; sessions are often recorded and available on the ICA YouTube channel.
Our Section is a welcoming community where we understand how much we can all learn from each other and where issues such as Archives for Justice are at the heart of our conversations.”
Caroline Brown
ICA/SUV Chair
“The Sex-Affective and Gender Diversity Archives and Archivists Working Group of the International Council on Archives (ICA/SAGDAA-WG) was created by an initiative of the ICA Secretariat, Carlos Serrano Vásquez, in March 2024. The Group is focused mainly on the following points:
01-The creation of guidelines and procedures for the recovery and archival treatment of archives, documents, collections and data related to Sex-Affective and Gender Diversity (SAGD) individuals, associations, organizations and communities all over the world.
02-To raise awareness within the archival community of the importance of the challenges, responsibilities, and opportunities inherent in managing Sex-Affective and Gender Diversity records and collections, specially of the high risk of loss and destruction of these records and collections due to their specific subject and the long and heavy marginalization and stigmatization process suffered by the LGBTQIA+ community throughout history to the present and worldwide.
03-To promote the visibilization of LGBTQIA+ archives and archivists.
04-To impulse investigation and academic research on the subject.
05-To promote the networking, communication and collaboration between LGBTQIA+ community archives and institutional archives.
ICA-SAGDAA-WG provides a forum for discussions of issues related to the recognition of SAGD minorities worldviews, and also for SAGD individuals and organizations theories, practices and participation in professional activities, archives and archival management.
One of the main recent goals has been the work for create the ICA’s Declaration on LGBTQ+ Archives and Archivists approved at the ICA Congress in Barcelona in 2025. The Barcelona Declaration is the first step by ICA in the path of recognizing and consider the specific issues related to LGBTQ+ archives and archivists, and it’s an example of engagement with the concept of archives as ways to foster justice and human rights through memory institutions and communities. Now it’s our duty to disseminate and publicize the Declaration as a fundamental element in the protection and visibilization of LGBTQ+ archives and archivists.
We would like also to weave a network of organizations to collaborate and work jointly in shared topics. We strongly believe sharing projects is the best way to materialize them. So, we try to strength links with the Groups and Sections of the ICA; the Nordic Network of Queer Heritage Archives (NNQH); the LGBTQ Religious Archives Network (LGBTQ-RAN); and the Diverse Sexuality and Gender Section of the Society of American Archivists (SAA-DSGS). We are happy to collaborate with these and other similar initiatives any Group or Section inside the ICA or outside may have.
Please learn more about ICA/SAGDAA-WG at our microsite at ICA’s website, and at PLEXUS, the Group’s blog.”
Jordi Padilla Delgado
ICA/SAGDAA-WG Chair
“In support of this year’s International Archives Week theme on the role of archives in safeguarding democracy and human rights, the Advocacy Expert Group is expanding access to the Universal Declaration on Archives by introducing new translations in Sinhala, Tamil, Slovak, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Amazigh. Professionals are encouraged to contribute by translating the UDA into more languages.”
Dr Tsepho Mosweu
ICA/AEG Chair
“The role of archives in supporting justice in society can hardly be overstated. From providing authentic evidence for the redress of injustice where it occurs to reinforcing the rule of law in order to prevent it happening in the first place, they are absolutely essential. The ICA Expert Group on Legal Matters monitors legal issues encountered by archives whether they are national ones preserving court and government records, specialist or community repositories operating closer to the grassroots.”
Malcolm Todd
ICA/EGLM Chair
“#ArchivesForJustice resonates with EGSAH’s work on shared and displaced archival heritage, colonial legacies, dispossession, and asymmetrical power relations. Through international dialogue on custody, access, restitution, representation, and the archives of non-sovereign or unrepresented peoples, EGSAH connects professionals and researchers to exchange knowledge, share practices, and advance reflection on archives, memory, rights, and justice. We welcome you to join this international dialogue.”
Laureano de Macedo
ICA/EGSAH Chair
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ICA Groups are open to ICA members who are professionals, researchers, and practitioners engaged in archival and records management work worldwide.
Becoming an ICA member connects you to a global professional community working across more than 140 countries, with access to international networks, expertise, and opportunities to contribute to the development of archival standards, projects, and dialogue that shape the future of the field.
Joining these communities allows you to:
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