A/HRC/44/46/Add.1 human rights capacity-building among schoolchildren. Importantly, the materials produced by the Government make use of the testimonies of persons affected by Hansen’s disease, not only giving voice to those who endured such gross violations, but also acknowledging that personal testimonies of the obstacles to a full and dignified life, as well as of how people survive discrimination, are the most effective instruments to systemically change mindsets. Furthermore, Hansen’s disease museums have become important sites not only for the preservation of history, but also for the elimination of harmful stereotypes and stigma reduction strategies. 31. The National Hansen’s Disease Museum in Tokyo 15 is a landmark example of participatory museography and of the right to truth and memory being implemented from the bottom up. Created in 1993 by persons affected by Hansen’s disease themselves, the museum (which became the National Hansen’s Disease Museum in 2007) initially consisted of a collection of items from all the sanatoriums in Japan, with the goal of raising awareness about the personal histories of persons who were forcibly segregated. From the outset, the museum was intended to tell the non-official history of these people who were denied their civil and political rights, rendered invisible, silenced and robbed of the right to continuity of life on the grounds of Hansen’s disease. Official history usually assumes the viewpoint of elites, while rendering invisible the agency of people with less epistemic and political capital. Official history is always backed up by concomitant processes of public forgetting.16 Testimonies and oral history are an effective way to counter public forgetting and the partial writing of history, by rescuing the stories of the victims from the private experience of memory. 17 By creating the museum, persons affected by Hansen’s disease ensured that their voices were the ones defining the production of the modern history of Hansen’s disease in Japan, which has a powerful effect on human rights education and enforcement. 32. Currently, the National Hansen’s Disease Museum in Tokyo is run by a professional team that focuses on three areas: curation, awareness-raising and conservation. Significantly, the participatory matrix of the museum is maintained by a steering committee that comprises persons affected by Hansen’s disease, members of the community and experts. The restoration of dignity continues to be the core mission of the museum and to that end, visitors are provided with first-hand testimonies, whether through video archives or lectures and talks given by persons affected by Hansen’s disease to visitors and groups. The museum staff also perform important work by preserving, studying and displaying the artistic and creative output of persons affected by Hansen’s disease, including literature, poetry and painting. A small part of the 13 sanatoriums in the country, including the National Hansen’s Disease Museum in Tokyo, is dedicated to raising awareness among schoolchildren, through visits to the museums and lectures at schools. Such good practices should be replicated in the 13 sanatoriums. 33. Memorialization processes are important for guaranteeing non-repetition of gross violations of human rights, as acknowledged in the Durban Declaration of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. As pointed out by the Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, memorialization for educative purposes meets at least three goals: recognizing victims, personal and collective healing, and prevention (A/HRC/25/49, para. 13). Memorialization also helps to promote democracy and respect for human rights and is closely connected to freedom of expression and the right to participation, reflecting key provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Furthermore, as acknowledged by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its general comment No. 21 (2009) on the right of everyone to take part in cultural life, culture not only mirrors, but also shapes the core guiding values of social life. That is why the right to participate in cultural life closely relates to economic, social and political rights and should duly respect three main components: participation, 15 16 17 There is also the Jukambo National Museum, in Kuryu Rakusen-en, which preserves punishment cells. Mahamadou Diallo, “People from different backgrounds write different histories: an essay on historiography (Britain and India)”, African and Asian Studies, vol. 6, Nos. 1–2 (2007); and Georg Gugelberger and Michael Kearney, “Voices for the voiceless: testimonial literature in Latin America”, Latin American Perspectives, No. 18, vol. 3 (1991). Margarida Calafate Ribeiro, África no Feminino: As Mulheres Portuguesas e a Guerra Colonial (Porto, Edições Afrontamento, 2007). 9