| Title | The 8th UNESCOJikji Memory of the World Prize is Awarded to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia |
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| Writer | Jikji Korea Team |
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he 8th UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize is Awarded to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia
The 8th UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize 2020 was awarded to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum in Cambodia, following a review by the International Advisory Committee on World Document Heritage. The UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize was established in 2004 to commemorate the inscription of the jikji, the world’s oldest existing movable type metal print, on the Memory of the World Register. The prize is awarded to individuals or groups that contribute to the preservation and research of documentary heritage. The prize-giving ceremony takes place in Cheongju-si every two years. The winner receives a certificate of award and an award of USD 30,000. Since the winner did not attend the prize-giving ceremony this year due to COVID-19 and social distancing measures was raised to Level 2 in the Republic of Korea, the prize-giving ceremony of the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize will take place online, showing untact interviews and documentary heritage videos. The award certificate and prize money will be delivered to the winner on September 10. The winner of the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize, Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, first opened its doors for visitors in 1979. The museum had originally been a high school, but it was used to detain, torture and massacre dissidents during the Khmer Rouge regime. The museum displays photos of dissidents before their execution, confession records obtained after torture and information of prisoners and guards. The museum’s archives showing the horrible circumstances of the time were inscribed into the UNESCO Memory of the World Register in 2009 for its significance and uniqueness. In 2018, the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum completed a preservation process for its collection of 750,000 pieces through the Archives Preservation and Digitization Project. In addition, the museum digitized and opened approximately 500,000 pieces of its collection to the world. For its contribution to raising the future generations’ awareness of history and human rights, the museum won the 8th UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize. The previous winners of the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize include the National Library of the Czech Republic (Czech Republic, 2005), Phonogrammarchiv, Austrian Academy of Sciences (Austria, 2007), National Archives of Malaysia (Malaysia, 2009), National Archives of Australia (Australia, 2011), Archives of Mexico ADABI (Apoyo al Desarrollo de Archivos y Bibliotecas) (Mexico, 2013), Iberarchivos Programme for the Development of Ibero-Ameran Archives (Central and South America, 2016) and SAVAMA DCI (Mali, 2018). 21 individuals and groups from 16 different countries were nominated for the UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize this year. ▶ Inquiries: Jikji Korea Team, Operation Division, Cheongju Early Printing Museum (☎+82-43-201-3663) |
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