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International congress about the importance of archives for human rights, good governance, formation of the nation state and national identityArchives as silent witnesses for the Australian Aboriginals. The role archives play in a federal state: the case of Flanders. Archives and national identity in Indonesia. A selection from the topics up for discussion during the international archival conference at the Peace Palace in The Hague, The Netherlands, August 30-31, 2010. This congress focuses on the importance of archives for good governance in an international context. In the globalizing information society, the significance of archives increasingly transcends national boundaries.The congress focuses on four themes:•Archives as 'silent witnesses'. Archives particular relevance in international areas where human rights are at stake.•Archives of international tribunals like the Yugoslavia Tribunal, or of international or supranational organizations like the European Commission and the Red Cross, transcend national boundaries. What happens to these archives, which are not subject to international archival laws?•Archives play an important role in the development of a national identity and national states. Archival management is, for example, indispensable to land registry or the Right to Information of citizens. Conversely, the growth and the management of archives are directly influenced by the formation of states.•How do archival professionals provide support to their colleagues in other parts of the world? Is there international archival solidarity?Key note speakers are:•Luc Huyse, sociologist of law, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, and international authority on commissions of reconciliation and truth.•Gabriela Salazar, president of the Mexican professional organization of archivists, member of the Section of Records Management and Archival Professional Organizations of the International Council on Archives, and an expert on archives and human rights.•Antonio Gonzalez Quintana, Spanish expert in the field of archives, human rights and international organizations.•Trudy Huskamp Peterson, former Archivist of the United States, current Chair of the Human Rights Working Group of the International Council on Archives.•Eric Ketelaar, emeritus professor of Archivistics, University of Amsterdam.Additional speakers come from but not limited to, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, The Netherlands, Spain, the United States of America and Switzerland.Some of the papers on the programme are:•The archives of the Khmer Rouge: justice and truth in Cambodia•Documenting torture and truth in El Salvador after the civil war•Managing the archives of international organizations•The role of archives in the parliamentary investigation concerning Lumumba (Belgium)The international congress is organised by KVAN, the Dutch association for archivists, and VVBAD, the Flemish association for archivists and librarians. The conference is supported by the Section of Professional Associations of the International Council on Archives (ICA/SPA) and the National Archives in The Hague, The Netherlands The congress commemorates the first international archives conference, which took place in Brussels a century ago in 1910.More details concerning the congress and the programme is available at: http://www.archiveswithoutborders.org . via Archivliste!s.a. http://archiv.twoday.net/stories/6089996