Across the world, non-state actors engage in activities to document atrocities and international crimes. While these archives are often established for the purpose of justice and accountability, they also raise questions about ongoing control and access. What happens, for example, to these documents after the legal processes are complete?
Dr Maria Elander has led research that explores these questions through a case study on the archives of Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge regime (1975-79).
“We examined four archives that hold records from the Khmer Rouge period and have been involved in the justice process,” explains Dr Elander. These included the archive of infamous security centre S-21 at Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Documentation Center of Cambodia, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, and the Legal Documentation Centre.
“We examined how records had circulated between the archives and been used.”
The research team found that the concept of evidence influences what is kept and how. And, that the collection of documents – often undertaken by a range of different groups for the same justice-oriented purpose – is nevertheless a competitive and contentious space.
“The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, for example, was set up to try former leaders of the Khmer Rouge. It completed most of its judicial proceedings in 2022 and is now in a residual phase before eventually closing,” explains Dr Elander. “There is much discussion about what will happen to these records once the residual phase ends.”
“We hope that our research contributes to this ongoing dialogue by highlighting the stakes involved in this kind of archival work, the need for collaboration, and the care that must be taken to preserve a record’s evidentiary weight.”
The research team are now exploring how archives created in other ad hoc justice mechanisms have been managed.
Read the article, published in Social & Legal Studies.
