The ICA’s Section on Archives and Human Rights (ICA/SAHR) invites you to its next conference of the year scheduled for 2 April 2024, at 16:00 CET (Paris time).
The Residual Special Court Archive for Sierra Leone – Preserving the Memories of a Civil War: From the Archivists’ Perspective by Aminata Kpewa-Allen, Heather Faulkner and Andreas Nef.
KEY INFORMATION
Date and time:
2 April 2024, at 16:00 CET (Paris time)
Host:
ICA’s Section on Archives and Human Rights (ICA/SAHR)
Language:
English. Interpretation into other languages will not be provided
Date and time:
2 April 2024, at 16:00 CET (Paris time)
Host:
ICA’s Section on Archives and Human Rights (ICA/SAHR)
Language:
English. Interpretation into other languages will not be provided
The talk is free and open for anyone to join, with recordings made available through the SAHR’s playlist of ICA YouTube channel. Registration is required to receive full details on how to connect to this virtual meeting.
Summary
The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) was the first hybrid tribunal created through a joint agreement between the United Nations and the Government of Sierra Leone to try those who bore the greatest responsibility for a civil war which devastated the country from 1991-2002. Following the completion of final appeals, in 2013 the SCSL entered its residual phase (RSCSL), which counts the management of archives amongst its most important functions. The Archives of the RSCSL/SCSL is an extremely valuable collection, documenting the war crimes and atrocities carried out by several warring factions during the conflict. It also represents evidence of the efforts of the Sierra Leonean and international legal community who worked tirelessly to deliver justice, and to demonstrate that perpetrators cannot expect impunity for their actions. These records are important with regards to their impact on both national and international jurisprudence among other convictions, the principle of joint criminal enterprise, forced marriage and prosecution of the crime of recruiting and using child soldiers. During this session, two of the archivists involved in the creation of the RSCSL archives within the Office of the Prosecutor and the RSCSL Registry will share their experiences, impressions and lessons learned on the complex task of securing a complex and sensitive archive for the continued operation of the courts’ residual functions and as a tool for understanding of human rights abuses.
Guest Speakers
Aminata Kpewa-Allen is an Archivist working at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) and its successor institution, the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone (RSCSL). She has worked in this organization for more than a decade, first as an evidence custodian for the office of the Prosecutor, and now within the Archives of the RSCSL Registry. Aminata has also worked as an Information Management professional for UN-OPCW Joint Investigative mission in Syria and worked in Timor Leste (East Timor) as the Head of the Evidence Unit in the Office of the Prosecutor for the UN Serious Crimes Unit. Aminata has an MSc in Records Management and Digital Preservation from the University of Dundee in Scotland and a Bachelor of Arts degree in International Relations and Political Science from the University of Sierra Leone. She currently lives in The Hague, Netherlands.
Heather Faulkner is an Archivist with a specialization in humanitarian archives. During her career, she has worked for Amnesty International, the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and has headed the Access and Research unit in the Records and Archives Section of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since 2013. She has a BA in History and Politics from the University of Sheffield and a Masters in Archives and Records Management from the University of Liverpool. She currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland.
Andreas Nef has started as archivist, and subsequently worked in different roles, in recent years as technical lead and Chief Technology Officer, focusing on digital preservation and implementing e-archives. A member of the Swiss Expert Pool for Civilian Peacebuilding, he has been deployed as archiving consultant for the Special Court of Sierra Leone in 2009 and continues to support the Residual SCSL. As an external expert, he has also collaborated in different projects with Swisspeace and their “Dealing with the Past” team. He is a member of the Executive Board of the ICA Section on Human Rights as well as the METS Editorial Board.
