A/HRC/17/21 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 14 April 2011 Original: English Human Rights Council Seventeenth session Agenda items 2 and 3 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights on the seminar on experiences of archives as a means to guarantee the right to the truth Summary In its resolution 12/12, the Human Rights Council invited the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to convene a seminar on the importance of archives as a means to guarantee the right to the truth and to report on the outcome of the seminar to the Council at its seventeenth session. The seminar took place on 24 and 25 February 2011, and the present report is submitted in accordance with the Council’s request. The discussion during the seminar was focused around four themes: (a) the preservation of archives and the right to the truth; (b) using archives in criminal accountability processes; (c) using archives in non-judicial truth seeking processes; and (d) the placement of archives of repressive rule. The report outlines the importance of archives to the ability of victims to realize their right to the truth, to judicial accountability and non-judicial truth-seeking processes, and for reparations. It records the views of participants regarding the duties of States to protect and preserve information concerning human rights violations, including that from truth commissions, courts and tribunals, NGOs, and regional and intergovernmental organizations, and the obligations on States to ensure the preservation of archives and to enact laws to govern the management and access to archives. The report further notes possible initiatives for the preservation and management of archives during transitional periods. GE.11-12894