The ICA and its Section on Archives and Human Rights (SAHR) are deeply concerned the about massive redundancies announced by Argentina’s Ministry of Justice on 31 December 2024. These redundancies will, according to the information received, affect the Secretariat of Human Rights and organisations such as the National Archive of Remembrance (ANM) and the Haroldo Conti Cultural Centre, both under the responsibility of the Ministry of Justice. 

The National Archive of Remembrance is a decentralised body of the Secretariat for Human Rights that was created more than 20 years ago to preserve and ensure access to documents relating to the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in cases where the responsibility of the Argentine State is involved, as well as material on the social and institutional response to these violations. When the Naval War College (ESMA) was converted into a space of memory in 2007, the National Archive of Remembrance set up its offices and offshoots in the buildings previously occupied by the College, where it remains today. Some parts of the buildings were redesigned and adapted to house the documents of the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP). 

Since its creation, the ANM has constantly expanded its collection by taking in various documentary fonds and holdings and now manages 5 linear kilometres of documentation in different formats. Several of its fonds and holdings were awarded Memory of the World status by UNESCO in 2007. 

ANM has therefore recruited specialists in archiving, conservation and historical research for the different processes involved in managing the documents in its possession. Its teams have offered and continue to provide training and technical assistance for other institutions throughout the country, irrespective of whether they are local, provincial, national or international, in the public or private sector. 

The redundancies announced on 31 December 2024 concern 40% of the ANM workforce. These job losses will make it difficult for the Archive to pursue its work of preserving and providing access to its documentary fonds and collections. 

They will also affect the ANM’s capacity to respond to requests from the judicial authorities for cooperation in investigations into crimes against humanity. Similarly, it will threaten ongoing efforts to collect and classify information about the illegal repressive actions of the Argentine State which is, among other things, needed by victims in their quest for reparation. 

These policies, which have developed in the forty years since the return to democracy, are part of Argentina’s long history. The decision to halt programmes, disband bodies and cut back staff threatens to undermine the role of the State as the guarantor of individual and collective rights and as an instrument of reparation, accountability, punishment of the guilty and objective knowledge of the truth about human rights violations. 

In view of the fact that the measures announced by the government would have negative repercussions on democracy in Argentina, the ICA urges the Argentine Government to: 

  1. Uphold the contracts of the archivists, curators, researchers and other members of the teams working at the National Archive of Remembrance. 
  2. Appoint responsible and professional authorities to this institution. 
  3. Ensure the preservation and public accessibility of the documentary fonds and collections held by the National Archive of Remembrance. 
  4. Maintain public archival policies aimed at strengthening the role of public archives as essential tools for knowledge of the truth and the defence of citizens’ rights. 

About the International Council on Archives and the Section on Archives and Human Rights 

The International Council on Archives (ICA) was established in 1948 as an international body under the auspices of UNESCO to strengthen and protect archives and encourage their use by societies around the world, in a spirit of cooperation and professional support among its members: national organisations, archival policymakers, professional associations, archival institutions and individual archivists. Its Section on Archives and Human Rights (SAHR) promotes the role of archives as facilitators of evidence of human rights violations, highlights such losses of rights and advocates for archival policies that ensure the preservation of archival documents and their use by citizens for obtaining redress and for building democratic societies.