The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has released a statement on the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, joining the Secretary-General of the United Nations and many other leaders, agencies, and colleagues around the world in calling for an immediate cessation of Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the ongoing military operations.
The Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC) has released a statement on the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, joining the Secretary-General of the United Nations and many other leaders, agencies, and colleagues around the world in calling for an immediate cessation of Russia’s attack on Ukraine and the ongoing military operations. As DPC members, the Digital Repository of Ireland (DRI) supports the DPC statement calling for actions in support of our colleagues in Ukraine.
DPC’s statement encourages the following actions:
1. Preserve the record.
The goals of justice, peace and reconciliation are not served when cultural heritage and records are destroyed. In our generation culture and the record are digital, but the tools of cyberwarfare and misinformation have turned the digital estate into a theatre of war. Every step should be taken to preserve the record. They call for respect for international law, notably the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its two (1954 and 1999) Protocols, and call for restraint from attacks on, or harm to, institutions and individuals charged with preserving the record.
2. Support institutions on the ground
DPC expresses their support and offers their resources and skills to agencies in Ukraine, especially to the Central State Electronic Archive of Ukraine (ЦДЕА України) the State Archive Service of Ukraine, the N.A. Vernadsky National Library, the State Cinema, Photo and Audio Archives of Ukraine and to all other established archives, libraries and institutions preserving and collecting the culture and history of Ukraine, as well as those managing and preserving records of the conflict.
3. Listen to Ukrainian communities.
Digital preservation supports access, use and impact. It empowers communities and individuals so long as it listens and responds to their needs and interests. DPC calls on all agencies involved in the preservation of Ukrainian culture to establish and strengthen links with Ukrainian community groups and representatives so that their voices and perspectives lead and inform curatorial decisions.
4. Support fellow professionals.
DPC seeks opportunities to sustain and support professional colleagues. We can do this by empowering current and emerging professionals in Ukraine as well as those now in exile with access to training, opportunities for travel, hosting, networking and knowledge exchange. DPC encourages their members, and agencies around the world, to support our Ukrainian colleagues in these and similar ways.
5. Protect the community.
DPC is an open and welcoming community, and operates under an explicit Policy of Inclusion and Diversity. Welcome is their default; but they reserve the right to withdraw their invitation to agencies and individuals who engage in acts of aggression or violent intimidation. The DPC community must be free to pursue its goals without coercion or threat. Therefore, where necessary they will exclude hostile agencies and individuals from participation in their programmes.
Read the full statement on the DPC website.
