The World Saw, the World Heard, the World Fell Silent: Why Does Iran Need a National Archive of Truth? S. Rouzbeh ۱۴۰۵/۰۳/۱۸ S. Rouzbeh reflects on the gap between witnessing human suffering and demanding accountability, drawing on the example of apartheid-era South Africa to argue that preserving victims’ names, testimonies and documents is essential to justice—and asking who should create a national archive of victims in Iran. S. Rouzbeh – When images of protesters being killed, the suffering of families seeking justice, and reports of arrests and torture are before the eyes of the world, yet responses are limited to a few statements and expressions of concern, we must ask: what place do human rights have in practice? If governments, despite knowing these facts, continue to maintain normal relations with those responsible for repression, how should the responsibility of the international community be defined? And in such circumstances, who is responsible for preserving the truth and pursuing justice? These questions are not limited to Iran; they concern one of the fundamental challenges of the contemporary world: the gap between knowing about human suffering and the will to hold those responsible to account. In recent years, the world has seen many images from Iran: young people who lost their lives in the streets, families mourning their children, mothers weeping at the graves of their loved ones, prisoners who were detained, and citizens who paid a heavy price simply for protesting. The world saw. The world heard. But in many cases, the world fell silent. Of course, this silence is not a new phenomenon. History shows that international politics has never always followed the path of ethics. Governments often make decisions based on security, economic and geopolitical interests. In such circumstances, people can become statistics: a number of deaths, arrests, sanctions and statements. But history teaches us another important lesson, too: the world’s silence does not necessarily mean victory for those responsible for repression. One of the most important examples is South Africa during the apartheid era. For decades, millions of people were denied their most basic human rights solely because of the colour of their skin. Many governments around the world knew what was happening, but it took years for pressure from public opinion, the media, human rights activists and victims’ families to bring it to the world’s attention. What defeated apartheid was not only sanctions, statements and resolutions. What ultimately helped truth prevail was the collective memory of people who refused to let the crimes be forgotten. They recorded the victims’ names, gathered testimonies, preserved documents and would not allow the truth to be buried. Perhaps this is also the most important lesson South Africa has for Iranians. The greatest enemy of justice is not repression alone; it is forgetting. Governments usually count on people forgetting. Time passes, the news changes, new crises arise, and it is assumed that people’s memories will fade, too. But the experience of nations that have achieved justice tells a different story. First and foremost, they preserved their memory. Today, too, the most important question is not what the United Nations will do or what decisions foreign governments will make. The more important question is: what will we do? Perhaps the first question is: who is responsible for creating a national archive of victims? The United Nations? Human rights organisations? The media? Foreign governments? The realistic answer is that no one strives to preserve the truth as much as survivors, families seeking justice and the people of a country. Human rights organisations can help, the media can report the news and special rapporteurs can write reports; but ultimately, the task of collecting a nation’s memories rests on that nation itself. When the internet is repeatedly shut down, documents are deleted, families are put under pressure and witnesses are afraid to speak, preserving the truth becomes a collective responsibility. Every photograph, video, document, testimony, gravestone and account from a grieving mother or father is part of Iran’s national memory. Perhaps that is why the most important task today is to establish a “National Archive of Truth”: an independent, secure, multilingual archive able to collect and preserve victims’ names, evidence of repression, images, testimonies and documents. No court can be established without evidence, and no human rights case can survive without proof. But alongside the danger of forgetting, there is another problem: fragmentation. Today, some of this work is being done by families seeking justice, journalists, human rights activists, media outlets and social media networks. Media outlets such as Iran International and Keyhan, as well as independent researchers, journalists and dozens of other groups, have played an important role in recording events. Even so, there is still no centralised, independent and permanent body to collect the shared memory of Iranians. Information is scattered across thousands of pages, hundreds of websites and social media networks. Many valuable documents are lost over time, many names are forgotten, and much evidence never reaches legal and international bodies. More than ever, Iran needs an independent and reliable platform to record its shared memory: one that can document victims’ names, preserve documents, organise and verify testimonies, and make information available in different languages to the media, human rights organisations and the world’s public. Such a project is impossible without public participation. Among the millions of Iranians inside and outside the country, thousands have skills in translation, research, documentation, information technology, archiving, journalism and human rights work. Many could register as volunteers on a centralised platform and take on part of this national responsibility—from translating documents and recording and organising testimonies to verifying information, preparing evidence for human rights organisations and international media, and helping preserve and maintain the archive. Shared memory gains strength when it is no longer fragmented and is brought together in one central, searchable and citable place. Translating documents is also part of this national responsibility. A large proportion of the documents relating to Iranian victims are published only in Persian, while UN rapporteurs, courts, global media and human rights organisations work primarily in English and other international languages. Every document left untranslated loses some of its power to make an impact. Justice rarely comes suddenly. It is the result of years of documentation, recording, translation, preservation of evidence and insistence on the truth. Governments can shut down the internet, close media outlets and conceal statistics; but they cannot destroy a nation’s memory. If the world has fallen silent during the days when young people in Iran were being killed, this is not the end of the road. This is where our responsibility begins. Now, more than ever, it is time to act urgently to establish a National Archive of Truth; every day of delay could mean the loss of a valuable document, the forgetting of a name, or the silencing of a voice that we will need tomorrow to prove the truth. Justice is not born of forgetting; it is born of memory, truth, evidence and perseverance. A National Archive of Truth is not merely a documentation project; it is a historical asset for future generations and a bridge between today’s suffering and tomorrow’s justice. The records for future trials must be gathered today, not tomorrow. And on the day the court of history convenes, not only will the perpetrators of crimes be held accountable before justice, but a nation, too, will stand tall—a nation that did not allow the truth to be buried, the memory of victims to be consigned to darkness, or them to be forgotten. The world, too, must answer for what exactly it was doing while the young people of Iran were giving their lives for life, freedom and human dignity. Source: https://srouzbeh.com/en/posts/archive-b14e7c11-f961-b63a-4b76-ff8d775b3a86 Please credit the author and link to this edition.