On January 14, 2025, an online workshop was held, dedicated to global practices in the memorialization of war crimes and human rights violations.
During the workshop, key questions were discussed:
How can the memory of tragedies be honored in a way that empowers society?
How can attention be drawn to human rights without politicizing the issue?
How can the memory of crimes be preserved amidst ongoing violence and structural inequality?
What role do victims and their families play in creating memorials?
How can mistakes in the process of memorialization be avoided, and how can museums be created that are accepted by society?
What alternative practices exist, and what role does art play in this process?
Participants: Practitioners and human rights defenders from various countries working to preserve the memory of conflicts and wars in Ukraine, South Korea, South Africa, Chile, and Argentina. The workshop consisted of two panels that explored best practices in memorialization, examples of successful museums, challenges faced, and innovative approaches in this field.
Panel 1: Chile – Argentina – South Africa: Promoting Human Rights Instead of Simply Remembering Atrocities
This panel presented the experiences of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights in Chile and the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre in South Africa, as well as the experiences of Argentina, from the perspective of Memoria Abierta, a national and regional reference organization.
When we visit human rights museums, we see what the founders chose to showcase, but what logic guided these decisions? What choices did they make about what to avoid, and why? The discussion focused on creating memorials that are accepted and embraced by societies that have endured significant trauma, especially in countries where memory risks being politicized.
Speakers:
María Luisa Sepúlveda – Founder of the Museum of Memory and Human Rights (MMDH) in Santiago, Chile.
Tali Nates – Founder and Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre (JHGC), historian, and international lecturer on Holocaust and genocide education, memory, reconciliation, and human rights.
Verónica Torras – Member of the Board of Directors of the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS). Executive Director of Memoria Abierta, an alliance of historical human rights organizations in Argentina specializing in memory projects and archives, and coordinator of the Network of Latin American and Caribbean Sites of Memory (RESLAC).
Panel 2: How Can We Preserve Memories When Atrocities Are Still Ongoing, and What New Practices Are Emerging?
Ukrainians are contemplating building memorials just a few years after the full-scale invasion—a time when many believe it’s still too early, sensitive, or political. Human rights violations in North Korea have been ongoing for over 70 years. How can memory be addressed when victims remain active participants in the process? What is their role? How can we balance local community involvement with the expertise of curators and professionals?
This panel also explored alternative memorialization practices, and the role of art in these processes.
Speakers:
Hanna Song – Executive Director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), the largest repository of human rights records on North Korea.
Kerry Whigham – Assistant Professor of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention at Binghamton University and Co-Director of its Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP).
Moderator: The workshop was moderated by Nataliya Gumenyuk, a Ukrainian journalist and author specializing in conflict reporting. She is the founder and CEO of the Public Interest Journalism Lab, which co-founded The Reckoning Project: Ukraine Testifies to document war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by Russia.
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