Every year, International Archives Week brings together the global archival community to highlight the vital role of archives in society. In 2026, International Archives Week (#IAW2026) will take place from 8–12 June 2026, organised by the International Council on Archives (ICA) under the global theme #ArchivesForJustice: Rights, Memory & Futures.
As part of this global programme, the ICA is organising a series of online webinars throughout the week to explore how archives contribute to justice in diverse and evolving contexts.
This webinar, War, Typhoons, Cyberattacks – Protecting Archives for Justice, is organised under ICA’s Forum of Archival Networks (FAN) and will take place on Monday, 8 June 2026 at 15:30 CET (Paris time). This online session will focus on the resilience of archives in times of crisis and the strategies used to protect documentary heritage under threat.
Speakers will discuss real-world experiences from disaster recovery, wartime archival protection, and cybersecurity in national archival systems. The webinar highlights how archives support the rule of law, administrative continuity, and access to justice, even under the most severe conditions.
The session will be chaired by Maximilian Scriwanek, member of the ICA/FAN Steering Committee, and features contributions from Dr. Nadeera Rupesinghe (Sri Lanka National Archives), Anatolii Khromov (State Archival Service of Ukraine), and Saul Nassé (The National Archives, UK).
More information on presentations and speaker biographies can be found below.
KEY INFORMATION
Date
Monday, 8 June 2026
Time
15:30 – 17:00 CET (Paris time). To confirm the date/time of this session in your time zone, please use the following link.
Location
Online.
Language
English. Automated translation of subtitles will be available.
Date
Monday, 8 June 2026
Time
15:30 – 17:00 CET (Paris time). To confirm the date/time of this session in your time zone, please use the following link.
Location
Online.
Language
English. Automated translation of subtitles will be available.
Presentations
- “When Floods Wash Away Justice: Disaster Recovery and the Rule of Law in Sri Lanka” by Dr. Nadeera Rupesinghe
When Cyclone Ditwah struck Sri Lanka in November 2025, it damaged approximately 175,000 court records spanning 150 years—case files, legal precedents, land deeds, and vital records essential for property rights, ongoing litigation, and access to justice. The immediate disaster lasted days; the impact on justice delivery will last years. This presentation examines the emergency response of the Sri Lanka National Archives, including the establishment of a Records Recovery Centre, coordination of international technical assistance, training of conservation personnel, and implementation of treatment protocols for contaminated legal records. It explores the intersection of archival practice and human rights, demonstrating how the protection of the information regime in a state is fundamental to the rule of law, administrative continuity, and access to justice by citizens. The case study highlights climate change as an archival emergency, the crucial role of disaster preparedness in vulnerable regions, and the necessity for international solidarity in safeguarding documentary evidence that underpins legal systems and democratic governance.
- “Digitization and online access to archive collections in Ukraine: wartime experience” by Anatolii Khromov
War and conflict situations are a significant threat to archival collections. As those collections come under threat, the memory of nations and communities, and the democratic institutions ensuring the safety and security of our societies, is also threatened. Digitization is therefore a strategic priority for Ukraine’s archival sector, ensuring preservation, research, and access to historical memory and genealogical resources, especially in wartime. The focus on Preservation, to ensure the preservation of documents; Service Accessibility, to allow archivists to issue official documents, copies, certificates, and extracts even in the absence of the originals; and Legalization of digital copies considered on par with paper originals has yielded significant results, with dozens of collaborations ongoing and completed. Ukraine’s massive archival digitization effort is a keystone to protect its democracy.
- “Security v Access” by Saul Nassé
Saul will discuss the challenges of balancing the management of the cybersecurity of an archive in an age of increasingly sophisticated bad actors against the need to provide access to a wide range of users in a wide range of formats. He will talk about how The National Archives (UK) handles preparedness, disaster recovery, and bot control.
Speakers
Dr. Nadeera Rupesinghe
Dr. Nadeera Rupesinghe has served as Director General of the Sri Lanka National Archives since 2017. She holds a PhD in History from Leiden University (2016) and is the author of Lawmaking in Dutch Sri Lanka: Navigating Pluralities in a Colonial Society (Leiden University Press, 2023). Under her leadership, the National Archives has strengthened institutional capacity for archives and records management, disaster preparedness, and digital preservation. Following Cyclone Ditwah in Sri Lanka in November 2025, the Sri Lanka National Archives coordinated the conservation of 175,000 water-damaged court records essential to the administration of justice, partnering with local and international bodies in that respect, including UNESCO, the International Council on Archives, and heritage disaster response organisations in the Netherlands and Japan to build capacity for documentary heritage protection.
Anatolii Khromov
Anatolii Khromov is the Head of the State Archival Service of Ukraine. A graduate of Odessa National University, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, He has worked in Archives since 2008; at the State Archives of Odessa Region, he managed the processes of restoration and digitization of archival fonds, and played an important role in the representation of digitized copies of archival documents in free access for users. He is known for his public activity: he gives open lectures, speaks at professional conferences on digitalization of archives, development of archival affairs, genealogy and has hosted a radio program: "Archival Discovery" (2015), "The Age of Odessa – Myths and Reality" (2016). His research interests include history of the Cossacks of the XIX century, archival affairs, digitization and access to archives, local history, history of the Odessa city police. Since 2013 he has been a member of the Cossacks History Division in Southern Ukraine of the Cossacks Research Institute of the Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine; and since 2018, a member of the Editorial Board of the publishing editions "Poland and Ukraine in the 30's–40's of the XX th Century. Unknown Documents from Archives of Secret Services" initiated by the Security Service of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration of Poland and the Institute of National Remembrance – Commission for the Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation. He also participates on the Editorial Board of the Scientific and practical journal "Archives of Ukraine".
Saul Nassé
Saul Nassé is Chief Executive of the National Archives, Keeper of Public Records and Historical Manuscripts Commissioner. He holds the offices of King’s Printer of Acts of Parliament and King’s Printer for Scotland and is King’s Printer for Wales. He is also appointed as the Government Printer for Northern Ireland and Controller of His Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Through these roles, Saul is responsible for overseeing the integrity of the public records system of England, Wales and the United Kingdom and The National Archives’ work as the official publisher of authoritative versions of legislation and official Gazettes. He is also responsible for the licensing of Crown copyright.
Saul has had an extensive career in education and media, having previously served as Group Chief Executive of Cambridge Assessment, the University’s examinations business, and as Chief Executive of Cambridge Assessment English. Prior to that, he was Controller of BBC Learning, running the department that commissioned and produced educational content including BBC Bitesize, Stargazing Live and BBC Food. During his time at the BBC, Saul oversaw the Domesday Reloaded project, which brought online a vast multimedia archive from 1986, contributed to by over a million members of the public.
