Article: Minugua donation

UN donates documents on Guatemala's peace process to university library

11 November 2004 – The United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) today donated all documents pertaining to its 10-year efforts to establish peace in the country to the University of San Carlos, located in the capital.

At a ceremony in Guatemala City, the papers were handed over to the institution's new Library of Peace. Also transferred were records of the Historical Clarification Commission which documented the human rights abuses committed in Guatemala during its 36-year war.

In addition, the UN's audiovisual material was given to Guatemala's Channel 33 and the University's film and radio library.

In making the donation, the Mission, which wraps up its work next month, voiced hope that all Guatemalans will be guaranteed full access to this material so that they can better understand their county's recent history and the positive steps taken since the peace accords were signed in 1996.

"It is important to the peace process that these documents can be used by the Guatemalan people," MINUGUA spokeswoman Seda Pumpyanskaya told the UN News Service. "It is also important to MINUGUA's transition in giving over responsibility for the peace process to the Guatemalans themselves."

MINUGUA chose the University of San Carlos, which has a 300-year academic tradition, because of its historic commitment to fight for the rights of the people. Numerous professors, students and administrators at the institution were targeted during the armed conflict.