Memory of the World Programme#Jikji Prize

The Memory of the World International Register is a list of the world's documentary heritage with outstanding global significance – such as manuscripts, oral traditions, audio-visual materials, and library and archive holdings. It catalogues documentary heritage that has been recommended by the International Advisory Committee and endorsed by the Director-General of UNESCO, using the selection criteria "world significance and outstanding universal value."{{Cite news |date=12 December 2023 |title=Memory of the World: Documentary heritage treasures of Africa |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/memory-world |url-status=live |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250217100352/https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/memory-world |archive-date=2025-02-17 |access-date=2025-06-17 |publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme |language=en}} As well as raising awareness of this heritage, the register aims to promote its preservation, digitization, and dissemination by calling upon the programme's networks of experts. The program also uses technology to provide wider accessibility and diffusion of information about the items inscribed on the register.

The first inscriptions on the International Register were made in 1997.{{cite web |date=October 1997 |title=Third Meeting of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme, Tashkent, 29 September-1st October 1997: final report |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000109753 |access-date=2025-06-17 |publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme}} The various properties in the register include recordings of folk music; ancient languages and phonetics; aged remnants of religious and secular manuscripts; collective lifetime works of renowned giants of literature; science and music; copies of landmark motion pictures and short films; and accounts documenting changes in the world's political, economic, and social stage.

As of April 2025, 570 pieces of documentary heritage had been inscribed in the International Register.{{Cite web |title=Memory of the World |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world |access-date=2025-04-24 |website=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme}}

The program is not without controversy. During the 2015 cycle, for example, there was a significant degree of conflict within East Asia, as registry with the MoW Program was becoming viewed as an approval of particular views of contested history, specifically with respect to the Nanjing Massacre and the comfort women.{{cite journal |last=Yamamoto |first=Mayumi |date=2016 |title=Heritage and Diplomacy: A Cultural Approach to UNESCO's Document Registry Program in East Asia |url=https://www.academia.edu/32367448 |journal=Annual Journal of Cultural Anthropology |volume=11 |access-date=May 26, 2022}}

Any organization or individual can nominate a documentary item for inscription on the International Register via UNESCO Member States through their National Commission for UNESCO. In the absence of a National Commission, the nomination is sent through the relevant government body in charge of relations with UNESCO, involving, if one exists, the relevant national MoW committee.{{Cite web |last=UNESCO |title=Memory of the World General Guidelines |url=https://en.unesco.org/sites/default/files/mow_general_guidelines_en.pdf |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=UNESCO}} Two proposals per UNESCO Member State are considered in each nomination cycle. There is no limit on joint nomination proposals from two or more UNESCO Member States.

The program is administered by the International Advisory Committee (IAC), whose 14 members are appointed by the Director-General of UNESCO. During its meetings, the IAC examines the full documentation of the item's description, origin, world significance, contemporary state of conservation and other criteria for admissibility. The IAC recommends to the Executive Board of UNESCO the items proposed for inscription.{{cite web |title=General Guidelines of the Memory of the World (MoW) Programme |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000378405 |access-date=3 March 2025 |publisher=UNESCO}} The IAC is responsible for the formulation of major policies, including the technical, legal and financial framework for the program. It also maintains several subsidiary bodies:{{cite web |date=2009-08-11 |title=International Advisory Committee |url=http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=2254&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20160311102614/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=2254&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |archive-date=2016-03-11 |access-date=2009-12-09 |publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme}}

• Bureau: Maintains an overview of the Programme between IAC meetings and makes tactical decisions in liaison with the Secretariat, reviews the use of the Memory of the World logo, and liaises with national Memory of the World committees and monitors their growth and operation.
• The Preservation Sub-Committee: Develops, regularly revises and promulgates information guides on the preservation of documentary heritage, and offers advice on technical and preservation matters.
• Register Sub-Committee: Oversees the assessment of nominations for the Memory of the World International Register and provides recommendations, with reasons, for their inscription or rejection to each meeting of the IAC.
• Education and Research Sub-committee: Develops strategies and concepts for institutionalizing education and research on documentary heritage and helps developing innovative curricula and research on Memory of the World.
• The Secretariat at UNESCO: Provides support services to the International Advisory Committee (IAC) and its subsidiary bodies, and the general administration and monitoring of the Program. It is the contact point of the Program.{{Cite web |last=UNESCO |title=Secretariat |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/secretariat?hub=1081 |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=UNESCO}}
• The Memory of the World Programme is implemented by UNESCO through regional and national committees. These committees are autonomous from UNESCO and are composed of dedicated local heritage professionals.{{Cite web |last=UNESCO |title=MoW Committees |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/committees?hub=1081 |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=UNESCO}}

Some national and regional Memory of the World committees maintain their own Memory of the World registers, highlighting documentary heritage of great national or regional importance. National registers include:

• Brazil Memory of the World Register
• Canada Memory of the World Register{{Cite news |last=Monkman |first=Lenard |date=11 September 2019 |title=National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation archives added to UNESCO world register |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/national-centre-for-truth-and-reconciliation-archives-added-to-unesco-world-register-1.5280185 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20231205044951/https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/national-centre-for-truth-and-reconciliation-archives-added-to-unesco-world-register-1.5280185 |archive-date=2023-12-05 |access-date=2025-06-17 |work=CBC |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Canada Memory of the World Register |url=https://en.ccunesco.ca/initiatives/memory-of-the-world/canada-memory-of-the-world-register |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Canadian Commission for UNESCO |language=en}}
• Mexican National Register of the Memory of the World{{Cite web |last=UNESCO |title=National Register of the Memory of the World incorporates 14 new inscriptions |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/national-register-memory-world-incorporates-14-new-inscriptions |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=UNESCO}}
• Memory of the World Aotearoa New Zealand Ngā Mahara o te Ao
• Philippines Memory of the World Register
• UK Memory of the World Register

Regional registers include:

• Asia Pacific Regional Register{{Cite web |last=Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific |title=MOWCAP Regional Register |url=https://www.mowcapunesco.org/core-activities/regional-register/ |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific}}
• Latin America and the Caribbean regional register{{Cite web |title=Memory of the World - Latin America and the Caribbean - List |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/lac/list?hub=84793&f%5B0%5D=dataset_filters:fac53f70-c695-4269-b656-c1cedaeedc1b&sort_by=unesco_country_label&sort_order=ASC |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20240901122956/https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/lac/list?hub=84793&f%5B0%5D=dataset_filters%3Afac53f70-c695-4269-b656-c1cedaeedc1b&sort_by=unesco_country_label&sort_order=ASC |archive-date=2024-09-01 |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=www.unesco.org |language=en}}

The Asia Pacific Regional Register and the Register for Latin America and the Caribbean{{Cite web |last=UNESCO |title=Regional Register |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/memory-world/lac/regional-register |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=UNESCO}} have already honoured important documentary heritage of their regions, while the African Regional Register is currently being established.{{Cite web |last=Africa Regional Committee of the Memory of the World Programme (ARCMoW) |title=Africa Regional Committee of the Memory of the World Programme (ARCMoW) |url=https://arcmow.org/ |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=Africa Regional Committee of the Memory of the World Programme (ARCMoW)}} In the Asia-Pacific region, in 2014–2015, there were 18 member nations of MOWCAP (6 without national committees), while in 2016, there were 16 national MoW committees.

Image:SelectedTeachingsofBuddhistSagesandSonMasters1377.jpg.]]

The Jikji Prize was established in 2004 by UNESCO{{Cite web |last=UNESCO |title=UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/prizes/jikji?hub=1081 |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=UNESCO}} in cooperation with the South Korean government to further promote the objectives of the Memory of the World Programme, and to commemorate the 2001 inscription of the country's Jikji on the Register.{{Cite web |last=UNESCO |title=About the Prize |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/prizes/jikji/about?hub=915 |access-date=2025-06-23 |website=UNESCO}} The award, which includes a cash prize of $30,000 from the Korean government, recognizes institutions that have contributed to the preservation and accessibility of documentary heritage.{{cite web |date=2005-06-21 |title=Twenty-nine new documentary collections inscribed on the Memory of the World Register |url=http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=28029&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |access-date=2009-09-06 |publisher=UNESCO Press}}

The prize has been awarded biannually since 2005 during the meeting of the IAC.

• 2005: Czech National Library (Prague){{cite web |title=Seventh Meeting of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000142730 |access-date=2025-03-03 |publisher=UNESCO}}
• 2007: Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
• 2009: National Archives of Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur){{cite web | title= UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World 2009 Prize awarded to National Archives of Malaysia | date= 2009-08-21 | url= http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29057&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html | archive-url= http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20150314195327/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=29057&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html | url-status= dead | archive-date= 2015-03-14 | publisher= UNESCO Memory of the World Programme | access-date= 2009-09-07 }}
• 2011: National Archives of Australia{{cite web | title= National Archives of Australia to receive UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize | date= 2011-05-30 | url= http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=31409&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html | archive-date= 2015-03-14 | archive-url= http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20150314182107/http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php%2DURL_ID%3D31409%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html | url-status= dead| publisher= UNESCO News Service | access-date= 2012-01-10 }}
• 2013: Apoyo al Desarrollo de Archivos y Bibliotecas (Mexico City)
• 2016: Iberarchivos Programme for the Development of Ibero-Ameran Archives
• 2018: SAVAMA-DCI (Mali)
• 2020: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (Cambodia){{Cite web |title=UNESCO / Jikji Memory of the World Prize 2020 awarded to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (Cambodia) |date=April 9, 2020 |website=UNESCO |url=https://en.unesco.org/news/unesco-jikji-memory-world-prize-2020-awarded-tuol-sleng-genocide-museum-cambodia |access-date=May 26, 2022}}
• 2022: American University in Cairo’s Libraries and Learning Technologies, Rare Books and Special Collection Library in Egypt{{Cite web |title=The American University in Cairo to receive 2022 UNESCO/Jikji Memory of the World Prize {{!}} UNESCO |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/american-university-cairo-receive-2022-unescojikji-memory-world-prize |access-date=2023-01-09 |website=www.unesco.org |language=en}}
• 2024: National Library of Indonesia{{Cite web |title=The National Library of Indonesia to receive 2024 UNESCO-Jikji Memory of the World Prize |date=September 3, 2024 |website=UNESCO |url=https://www.unesco.org/en/articles/national-library-indonesia-receive-2024-unesco-jikji-memory-world-prize |access-date=November 18, 2024}}

In 1992, the program began as a way to preserve and promote documentary heritage, manuscripts, maps, rock inscriptions, court documents, diplomatic exchanges and more that are deemed to be of such global significance as to transcend the boundaries of time and culture. This recorded memory reflects the diversity of languages, people, and cultures. UNESCO, the world agency responsible for the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage, realized the need to protect such fragile yet important component of cultural heritage. The Memory of the World Programme was established to facilitate the preservation of, universal access to, and public awareness about humanity's documentary heritage.{{cite web |author=Jasmina Sopova |date=2007-06-20 |title=Thirty-eight new inscriptions for Memory of the World Register |url=http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=38423&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091111132741/http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D38423%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html |archive-date=2009-11-11 |access-date=2009-09-06 |publisher=UNESCO Press}}

{{blockquote|People the world over are creating [memories] in forms that are less and less permanent—be it sound recordings, film, videotape, newsprint, photographs, or computer-based documents. It must be said that the output of the present century alone is probably greater than the total output of all previous centuries put together; and ironically and tragically, it is being lost faster than ever before. It is a tragedy indeed, for what is at stake is the recorded memory of mankind.|Dato’ Habibah Zon, Director-General of the National Archives of Malaysia|introduction from
UNESCO MEMORY OF THE WORLD PROGRAMME: The Asia-Pacific Strategy, 17 April 1999}}

Regular meetings were held by the IAC in its interim capacity beginning in 1993, culminating in the creation of the Memory of the World International Register during its second meeting in 1995, with the first inscriptions on the register in 1997, after the statutes that created the IAC as a standing committee took effect.{{cite web |date=July 1999 |title=Fourth meeting of the International Advisory Committee of the Memory of the World Programme, Vienna, 10-12 June 1999: final report |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000116830 |access-date=2025-06-17 |publisher=UNESCO Memory of the World Programme}}

Biennial meetings of the International Advisory Committee are used to discuss and inscribe items onto the register. The meeting normally takes place in odd-numbered years:

• Digital preservation
• Domesday Project
• National memory
• Project Gutenberg
• World Heritage Site

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• {{cite book |title=Sites of International Memory |year=2023 |doi=10.2307/j.ctv2zjz7d9.16 |chapter=International Conflict, National Pasts, and UNESCO World Heritage and Memory of the World |pages=294–320|first1=Kristal |last1=Buckley |first2=Kate|last2=Darian-Smith|publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press|isbn=978-1-5128-2406-3|oclc=1376193602|editor1-first=Glenda |editor1-last=Sluga|

editor2-first=Kate |editor2-last=Darian-Smith| editor3-first=Madeleine |editor3-last=Herren}}

{{commons category|Memory of the World Register}}

• {{official website|www.unesco.org/en/memory-world}}

{{Memory of the World}}

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Category:UNESCO

Category:Cultural heritage conservation

Category:1992 establishments

Category:1992 introductions

Category:1995 introductions