Arhivski vjesnik, Vol. 57 No. 1, 2014.
Review article
Archives of the International Criminal Court in the Hague, its Importance and Availability to the Archivists and Researchers
Ana Holjevac Tuković
; Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog rata
Abstract
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991 (better known as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY) was established in 1993 by the resolution of the United Nations Security Council. In the course of its work, the International Court issued as well as gathered a large number of documents and records. The writings and documents of the Court’s Archives consist of conventional and digital documents and contain thousands of hours of audio and video recordings, physical objects, as well as more than 5500 statements of witnesses whose testimonies were accepted as evidence. The Archives of the International Court also contain the extremely valuable information from all the trials at the ICTY. Certain sections of the Archives are confidential and access to these documents was limited solely to the International Court by the countries which presented those documents to the Court. Since the Court has stopped working, many problems have arisen regarding the regulation of the accessibility of the Court’s archives. The United Nations Department of Archives and Documentation (UNARMS) deals with the protection and the accessibility of the archives. It is also in charge of supervision of the task completion strategy for the issue of archives of the International Court. Simultaneously with the beginning of process of closing the International Court, the politics of the archives were determined i.e. the methods of its maintenance and accessibility. The UN High Committee for Human Rights published nine instruments for providing assistance in the area of rights, among which is also the matter of archive accessibility. The most important issue was making the ICTY’s archives available for research and for legal purposes. Numerous questions arise from the decisions made regarding the archive accessibility and from the decision whether certain documents may be published and under what circumstances. In the course of its work, the International Court provided the preservation and accessibility of the archives. The Archives of the International Court started the digitalization process, ensuring the protection of the archives as well as its accessibility. In December 2008, the International Court posted on its official web page a newly updated page containing the database with over 150 000 court documents. The extensive documentation available through the online database represents a crucial resource for numerous researchers. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague published documents such as the contents of the Croatian claim against Serbia for the genocide committed during the Homeland War, the contents of the Serbian counterclaim and a series of documents through which both sides responded to arguments and evidence from the opposing side.
Keywords
: the archive of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991; the availability of the documents; International criminal court data base; Homeland war
Hrčak ID:
139174
URI
Publication date:
18.12.2014.
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