Goobi - e353d - 2020-08-02 20:03:17+0000
Goobi
1968/2007
Records of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
OSA-0017
OSA
alb
bul
eng
fre
ger
hrv
pol
rus
srp
Textual Material
Good
HU
Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives
Vera és Donald Blinken Nyílt Társadalom Archívum
hun
Arany János u. 32, 1051 Budapest, Hungary
36-1-327-3250
https://osaarchivum.org/
info@osaarchivum.org
Fond HU OSA 318
Archival reference number
eng
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights
1968
2007
54.5 linear meters (436 Archival boxes)
The sub-fond contains 11 archival series that represent the complete archive of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights. The fonds contains correspondence, interoffice memos (fax and e-mail), administrative records, mission files, conference and seminar material, press releases, media monitoring materials, newsletters, reports and photographs, as well as electronic records. The records in this fonds document 25 years of activities (1982-2007) of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF). <br/><br/>
The material related to Jewish history and culture is stored in the archival series HU OSA 318-0-5 Country Files (1988-1999). The series contains press releases and clippings, media monitoring materials, memos (fax and e-mail), correspondence, human rights listserv materials, and reports and publications from other human rights organizations. 7 folders inform about Jewish life in late Soviet Union and early years of Russian Federation (topics discussed: Jewish emigration and refuseniks, Jewish question in the Soviet Union et al.) between 1985 and 1994.
The fond was transferred to the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives in three sequences: the first part was brought to Budapest in 1998, followed by a smaller shipment in 2005; the final transfer of the remaining material was in January 2008.
The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) was brought to life at the height of worsening US-Soviet relations by representatives of eighteen Western European and North American countries at a conference in Bellaggio, Italy in September 1982. Its foundation was communicated at a press conference on November 9, during the CSCE meeting in Madrid. The underlying idea was to pull together, orchestrate, and intensify the activities of already existing Helsinki monitors and other interest groups in monitoring human rights in the thirty-three signatory states, but first and foremost in the Soviet Union and its Communist allies who, despite having signed the Helsinki Final Act, did little to fulfill its prescriptions. Backed also by US-based human rights NGOs, most prominently Helsinki Watch, the principal initiator of the foundation of IHF, this European watchdog organization exercised its role by organizing frequent consultations toward building a common strategy among its member committees on the one hand, and on the other, by submitting frequent inquiries and open letters to governments, releasing press statements, and conducting fact-finding missions in the countries under their investigation. By embedding itself in CSCE negotiations and winning over the support of neutral and non-aligned delegations, IHF had a greater chance of effectively improving, or at least influencing, the human rights situation in those countries. <br/><br/>
Arranged in several series by themes and document types, the fonds consists of materials on the overall human rights conditions in signatory countries to the Helsinki Final Act (country files), administrative records of the Vienna-based General Secretariat, including extensive correspondence and interoffice memos, files of the Executive Director(s), as well as IHF project and mission files, thematic reference files, OSCE-CSCE related documents, various IHF publications and reports, and finally photographs pertaining to IHF meetings and missions, and thematic sets from other human rights NGOs The archival material was processed and revised at the Blinken OSA in 2002-2013.
Russia
Correspondence
Jewish Question
Migration
Migration--Emigration
Newspaper clippings
Aliyah
Anti-religious activity (Soviet Union)
The sub-fond includes 11 archival series systematized according to legacy structure of this sub-fond.
Reproduction is allowed for non-commercial purposes.
The catalog (folders/items level) is available online.
https://catalog.osaarchivum.org/catalog/jDemXWK2
Originals are located at the Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives (Blinken OSA) in Budapest.
Anastasia Felcher; Blinken OSA; 2022 based on Branislav Kovacevic, Oana Girlescu, Ephrem Birhanu, Andrei Voinea, Craita Curteanu, Csaba Szilagyi, Blinken OSA; 2002-2013.
Vera and Donald Blinken Open Society Archives