ARHIVSKI VJESNIK 37. (ZAGREB, 1994.)

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M. Pandžić, Some experiences and problems... Arh. vjesn., god. 37 (1994) str. 69-78 accepted by more than 60 countries, there have been many violations in the latest war events in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and it has been clearly shown that monuments of culture, archives and libraries, especially sacred monuments and graveyards, can be the target of planned violence. New international legal procedures, extensions and legal mechanisms are needed in order to put pressure on aggressive forces, to stop destroying the cultural heritage of nations. 3. Such war experiences have shown the need for countermeasures, some of which have been well voiced as a result of experiences of armed conflict or war throughout the world. These are as follows: a) Preparing inventories: cataloguing of the most valuable archival material (collections and record groups as well as analytical listing of the most precious units). In order to implement this cataloguing it is necessary to create specific standards and recommendations to all member countries, to help this action to be adopted throughout the world. b) Large scale microfilming: A special priority listing (part of the catalogue) should list the most important and precious national and international cultural heritage items, the "memory of the world", as defined by UNESCO, and/or other special valuable national material. Also the very important items, such as the inventory books of museums, of archives, catalogues of libraries, cultural, religious and other institutions. Specific standard lists of archival material "at risk" should be made generally available through all member states. c) Evacuation: When possible, evacuation and transportation of important and valuable archives (record groups and/or collections), according to a carefully laid plans made in advance. Account should be taken of all the dangers the archival material may be subjected to in new or temporary respositories, during the transportation itself, including transportation back to the original institution after the war. In World War II there were cases in which more archival material was damaged or destroyed during the transportation, or in new repositories, than when it had been left in situ. This does not mean archives should not be temporarily resited, rather that any movement should be carried out within carefully laid plans. We are now well aware of the need to secure specific buildings with space and safe conditions to accept archival material on a temporary basis. Because of the dangerous humidity resulting with moulds in unadequate repositories, we should have concern for microclimates, water proof containers and secure vehicles. 4. Conservation and restoration needs should be continuously assessed to take account of the rapidly growing amount of damaged archival material, both that which exists and that which results form the armed conflicts which will need tending when the conflict ceases. In Croatia alone after two and a half years of armed conflict it is calculated that some 500 000 leaves of paper (archival documents) have been heavily damaged, physically, by water, humidity, or soiled by faeces (being hidden for example in stables or other places). This adds to conservation problems associated with arround 10 million leaves of archival 72