ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 37. (ZAGREB, 1994.)

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M. Pandžić, Some experiences and problems... Arh. vjesn., god. 37 (1994) str. 69-78 of too many local or regional or international armed conflicts or wars that are more and more rageing, though along with many other natural disaster, also jointly with them, but primarily, nevertheless, the armed conflicts, throughout on our planet Earth. These armed conflicts or wars are nowadays, more and more threatening our civilisation and culture. The Congress expressed the feelings of present archivists from all over the world, in this manner: "PROTECTION OF THE ARCHIVAL HERITAGE 22. The two thousand five hundred archivists meeting in Montrai at the Xllth International Congress on Archives, reaffirming their pledge to preserve the archival heritage of mankind, and distressed by the widespread ordeal of war and combat, which jeopardizes the integrity of archives and subjects them to destruction, disarrangement and capture, urge ICA: - to prepare specific plans and publications to assist governments in preventing damage to archives in the event of war and natural disaster; - to urge members to take timely actions to protect threatened archives; - to cooperate with members and national and international bodies in efforts to reconstitute destroyed information from archives" (Archivum XXXIX, 481). In the second item of these Recommendations you can read "armed conflicts or natural disaster", so I am taking the liberty being in the war, in my country in Croatia, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina - to say a few words more, about this specifical but also ominously permanently and latently present in the world, so that I can dare to say that there is so many risk almost in every country in the world, simply because of really huge storage of every kind of weapons throughout the world. On the ground of these above mentioned Recommendations the Committee on Disaster Prevention of the International Council on Archives (ICA - DpC) - was organized. The first meeting of the Committee was held in Stockholm/Helsinki in October 1993. The Committee recognised the need to advise on Disaster Control Planning using a world-wide perspective, taking into account the present recognised risks including the problems associated with armed conflict, presently highlighted by experiences in former Communist ruled countries of Eastern and South-East Europe, as well as in regions of Eastern and South-East Asia, and other countries of the Third World. It is generally recognized by Committee members that international developments in Europe have highlighted the need for concern over loss resulting from armed conflict. The meeting was also presented with details from many experiences from recent war events in Republics of the former Yugoslavia (especially Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina) where many cultural monuments, archival materials and buildings have been deliberately targeted, for various reasons. Reference was made to the of the 1954 Hague Convention and concern expressed about inadequacies of the treaty. 70