A/HRC/17/21 to disseminate information to combat impunity. When materials are donated, the museum agrees with the donors on the conditions of access; most donors agree to make the materials available to the public. The museum also has a digital library, a database for the archives, and a reference service for the public. The museum is interested in obtaining information from other countries, such as Paraguay and Argentina, with closely linked histories. 30. Examples regarding public access to the records of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa were also shared. When the South African truth commission was planned, there was little understanding of the role and value of archives. This has had a major effect on the subsequent problems with archiving the Commission’s records. The temporal, geographical and material scope of the Commission’s archives is limited, reflecting the narrow scope of the Commission’s mandate and its focus on individuals rather than institutions. The large-scale destruction of records by the apartheid State also limited the Commission’s work. The Commission has recommended that an independent research team undertake a comprehensive analysis of the remaining records of the intelligence service, but this has not occurred. The Commission’s own records suffered losses due to inadequate internal controls, particularly over electronic records, the requirement to return some State documents to the originating agencies, and the inappropriate designation of some records as personal property. The national archives hold the Commission’s records. Access is possible only through the use of the country’s freedom of information legislation, often a difficult and expensive process. Review and release to the public of the documents in the Commission’s archives involves various Government departments. 31. The South African History Archive and the University of the Witwatersrand have undertaken initiatives to promote access to the Commission’s records. A number of factors that should be taken into account in managing the Commission’s records were emphasized, such as the human and financial resources available, the archival expertise required, the importance of NGO records and the role of the records of private bodies in documenting human rights violations, the complexities in dealing with State archives in the conflict and post-conflict context, and the importance of recognizing educational, linguistic and technological inequalities in accessing and using archives. 32. With regard to the issue of holding the records of truth commissions in an institution outside the national archives during transition, it was stated that, for example, the follow-on body to the Timor-Leste commission was not confident that, in the absence of specific legislation, the national archives would be able to handle the records of the truth commission. In Chile it had been necessary to house documents from individuals and NGOs in the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, a separate entity with a mandate to ensure access to the public and cooperate with the national archives, because the public needed to trust the way their documents will be used and made public. 33. In Argentina, the records of the truth commission were ultimately transferred to the new secretariat for human rights that manages a national archive for memory. Access to the archives requires a showing of “legitimate interest”. This requirement for legal interest also applies to access to records in the Serbian court archives; one must demonstrate that one has a legal interest in the requested documentation. This situation calls for a clear definition of what is a legitimate legal interest. 34. On a question about whether commissions were able to access records of private entities, such as NGOs and churches, it was stated that in Chile the information compiled by the Catholic church had been used by the reparations commission. In South Africa a number of NGOs and churches had made their archives available to the truth commission. 35. With regard to the question about how public policy is developed on preserving the memory of historic events, the experience of countries in preserving and recording historic 8