Page 30 - 2022 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter_vol.3

Nisay Hang, Director of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum Nisay Hang, Director of Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum

in the museum archive. Moreover, the project also helps to professionalize archive study in
Cambodia where it had not existed previously in the field of preservation and digitization.

In addition to the TSGMAPD, the Museum has won the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the
World Prize in 2020. However, we started the activity regarding digitization and preservation
as well as paper conservation in 2021 when the TSGMAPD was completely finished. During
the implementation, we could digitize 30,964 pages of the duplicated document (out of
approximately 300,000 pages), which were not included in the TSGMAPD. Additionally,
we could preserve 745 pages of the most fragile documents as well as producing a video
to promote the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize. Even though it was during the
Covid-19, the museum was able to complete the activity in the field of conservation and
preservation.
However, open access to the documents or photos of the victims sometimes has a bit
of negative impact. For instance, the portraits
of the S-21’s victims were colorized and edited
into smiling faces by a foreign designer who
had access to the photos from the museum’s
archives and posted them worldwide. This act is
unacceptable to the victims’ family particularly
and for Cambodian people whose relatives had
lost their lives during the Khmer Rouge regime.
For this reason, the Ministry of Culture and
Fine Arts, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum,
and Cambodian people complained to the company to remove the article and to ask for a
public apology fromthe designer. This is the case that every Archive should have a policy or
international policy to protect the dignity and historical view regarding the use of the victims
of genocide. In conclusion, we should have a strong network to protect the misuse of the
victims’ genocide photos. (https://tuolsleng.gov.kh/en/)

30 UNESCO ICDH Newsletter 31 Pinpoint Views