A/HRC/45/45 lack of cooperation by the authorities who hold them. 39 This contrasts with the exemplary attitude of the German authorities, who have opened the archives of the Stasi (the Ministry of State Security of the former German Democratic Republic). 40 72. The development of new technologies has created additional difficulties. The mechanism for the Syrian Arab Republic alone has collected over 2 million documents, including videos and testimonies related to violations of the laws of war, representing 41 terabytes of information. Managing this volume of information requires an adequate budget and specific expertise. Procedural standards for processing such voluminous archives should be developed within the United Nations. E. Role of the United Nations 73. The United Nations can play a very important role in memory work. Since its establishment, its agencies and organs have built up extensive and valuable archives in the countries where they have operated. These documents can provide a unique insight into violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and contribute to the historiography of different countries. 74. Within the institution itself, other actors, including the special procedure mandate holders of the Human Rights Council, do not always have access to these archives. In theory, all documents, except those considered to be highly confidential, are made accessible to the public after 20 years. In practice, however, this does not always occur for technical and budgetary reasons and because the resources required to process and digitize them are lacking.41 The rules should be revised: in some cases, the importance of shedding light on past events may take precedence over the time limit, provided that the circumstances so permit and that mechanisms can be established to protect the identities of vulnerable persons mentioned in the documents concerned. 75. The report of the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States on the deaths of 50 Ghanaian citizens and migrants in the Gambia under the dictatorship of Yahya Jammeh has never been published, even though five United Nations special procedure mandate holders have requested it and its release is hugely important for the societies of two countries.42 76. Given the importance of issues related to memory for societies seeking to recover from serious conflicts or periods of repression in which human rights and/or international humanitarian law were violated, the United Nations must uphold these societies’ right to the truth by establishing a useful methodology for granting access to its archives. The Organization cannot neglect a principle and an obligation that it has itself identified and with which it calls on States to comply. VII. Weaponization of memory through social networks A. Balance between the right to information and the prohibition of incitement to hatred 77. Historically, information and memory have been critical political issues. The media play a vital role in documenting crucial events and reporting on them in real time: the 39 40 41 42 GE.20-09155 https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=24557&LangID=E. See Federal Commissioner for the Archives of the Ministry of State Security of the German Democratic Republic, www.bstu.de/en/. By way of example, it is difficult in practice to obtain access to the archives of the El Salvador Truth Commission, which are held by the United Nations. See https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=24138 and https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=24141. 13