A/HRC/28/36
also created the Royal Institute for Moroccan History and Research and established a
research study centre on modern history, along with a specific master's degree in that area.
Finally, Morocco had established three museums of regional history aimed at the promotion
of the country’s regional and linguistic diversity. Various memory-related projects had also
been set up, and certain detention centres, known for being former places of torture and
execution, had been converted into memorial sites.
53.
Algeria stated that it was commemorating, through a multi-dimensional process, its
resistance to colonization and the war of national liberation. Museums had been built,
monuments had been erected and streets, towns and buildings had been named after martyrs
and national heroes. Gatherings also continued to be organized to commemorate major
events from that period of Algerian history. A similar approach had been adopted and was
being concretized to honour the victims of terrorism and the courageous choice of the
Algerian people for national reconciliation.
54.
Estonia stressed that the multi-perspective approach was a leading philosophy in
history education and stressed the highly valued role played by associations in that regard,
such as the Estonian History and Civic Teachers Association, the European Association of
History Educators and the History Network for Young Europeans. It mentioned some
international initiatives, such as the Memory of the World Register of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to which in 2009 was
inscribed the Baltic Way, or Chain, a landmark protest that took place for the first time in
1989 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet
Union and Nazi Germany. The delegation also referred to the establishment of the Museum
of Occupations in Estonia, the aim of which was to organize exhibitions and carry out
studies on Estonia’s recent and complex history. In addition, Estonian students were made
aware of various memorial sites, including those geographically close to their schools,
throughout the history curriculum.
55.
China indicated that it had introduced a memorial day to remember the victims of
the Nanjing massacre and added that the historical archives in relation to the massacre had
been sent to the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
56.
Colombia reported that its Law on Victims and Land Restitution of 2011 established
a duty for the State to undertake memory reconstruction with the participation of a wide
range of actors, as a means to fulfilling the right to truth. Colombia’s National Centre for
Historical Memory was created to reconstruct past events and establish the truth by carrying
out studies and issuing publications. The Centre was also in charge of public policy
regarding archives on violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, of
carrying out symbolic reparation actions and of running the National Memory Museum.
57.
Lithuania referred to the network of tolerance education centres, which was created
at the initiative of the International Historical Commission and engaged students, teachers,
non-governmental organizations and others to discuss and reflect upon political and social
reasons for historical events and on the consequences of human rights violations. The
Lithuanian delegation added that such initiatives could contribute to the multi-voice
narrative of history teaching, and thereby promote tolerance in society.
58.
Sierra Leone explained that there was a societal culture of silence in the country
about the civil war, but that the Government was committed to promoting measures to
ensure a full and lasting peace. Of particular note, the delegation stressed that the premises
of the Special Court for Sierra Leone had been converted into a peace museum in 2012,
with exhibition rooms containing historical documentation and objects as well as archives
and a memorial garden that had yet to be developed.
12
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