Communications Department
The Oral Archive of Memory of Victims (Archivo Oral de Memoria de las Víctimas – Amovi-UIS) is one of the main inputs for researchers interested in delving into human rights issues because there is a diversity of documents on different topics.
Amovi-UIS collects and organizes the archives received, guaranteeing the chain of custody and contextualization of how and where the documents were produced. The organization complies with the archival principles of respect for the origin of the funds and the natural order of production.
The above has the purpose of contributing to the construction of a reasoned and inclusive historical memory of the Colombian internal armed conflict and socio-political violence through the compilation of oral testimonies of victims of the conflict and the collection of documentation from human rights organizations and political and community resistance organizations.
Emphasis is placed on oral documents, without these preventing the collection of documentation on other media, since orality is the most significant mechanism that victims have used to transmit their memory.
At the same time, it seeks to bring society closer to the problems of the internal armed conflict and political violence, reducing attitudes of indifference and discrimination towards the victims and also creating meeting spaces where reflections and discussions can converge to bring peace scenarios closer.
“For this 2022 we have a progressive visit plan of victims’ organizations, which will go to receive training and formation in the Archive to do work programs with us. In addition, we will make a campaign to call the UIS community to tell Amovi how their family lived through the armed conflict in Colombia. I think it is important to analyze the impact experienced by the families of students, professors and workers of the University,” said Ivonne Suárez Pinzón, director of the Oral Archive of Victims’ Memory.
She is a professor at the School of History of the Universidad Industrial de Santander. Her line of research has focused on memory, education, culture, Colombia’s internal armed conflict, among other areas.
She has excelled as director of Documentary Management Certification, director of the research group History, Archival and Research Networks (HARED), director of the UIS digital journal ‘Cambios y Permanencias’, member of the board of directors of the Regional Corporation for the Defense of Human Rights (CREDHOS), member of the Commission and advisor to the House of Truth of the CEV in Bucaramanga.
The construction of the Oral Archive of Memory of the Victims has taken place gradually and also through the support with the donation of materials by different corporations and organizations. Thus, any researcher who wishes to donate his or her studies to Amovi-UIS can do so.
“We have been shaping ourselves as a human rights archive, but it is an archive thanks to the donations and trust that researchers and institutions have been progressively giving us. We help in the process because we have to see if it really interests the history of the conflict, but it is the rector who authorizes the donations because we cannot receive things in a personal way”, assured Suárez Pinzón. For more information about Amovi-UIS, visit this link: https://bit.ly/3g2B2xC
