Following the decision of the ICA General Assembly on 22 October 2019 in Adelaide, the Human Rights Working Group (HRWG) has become the Section on Archives and Human Rights (SAHR)
The 2003 CITRA in Cape Town adopted a resolution on archives and human rights violations. In part, this resolution invited ICA and UNESCO to put in place a preservation programme for archival fonds that would document violations of human rights. To implement this resolution, ICA established a Human Rights Working Group (HRG).
The Section on Archives and Human Rights – SAHR (formerly known as the Human Rights Working Group HRWG) disseminates information on the importance of archives to defend human rights and the use of archives in protesting the violations of human rights. It issues a monthly newsletter on archives and human rights, it develops projects to increase the cooperation between ICA and archival services and administrations in the field of human rights, and it supports better and wider use of the archives in the defense of human rights.