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November 18, 2024

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International Coalition of Sites of Conscience equips museums, historic sites and communities with the skills they need to combat the historical erasure and exclusion that breeds inequality and cycles of conflict.

But we need your help — more today than yesterday and more in the year ahead than we could have ever imagined. Protect the stories that matter by making a one-time or monthly donation today.

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November 5, 2024

Museums Strengthen Democracy

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience Awarded Grant to Strengthen Museum and Heritage Sites in Ukraine With funding from the State Department’s Ukraine Cultural…

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August 28, 2024

Open Seat Training

RSVP Now! For twenty-five years, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience has helped museums, historic sites and other public spaces become dynamic centers for…

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July 11, 2024

When Celebrating Holidays Feels like Celebrating Erasure: A Reflection

In celebrating Independence Day with hot dogs, tri-color bunting and spectacles in the night sky, we become players in a national mythology of exceptionalism. The hard edges of our past are buffed to the point of being unrecognizable. This is not unique to the United States, of course, it is a global phenomenon of revisionist stories, markers and memorials, presidential decrees and official holidays designed to turn the page on histories of horror that have never been acknowledged, much less redressed. We must ask the question — at what cost do we celebrate erasure?

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July 9, 2024

Ask the Anthropologist: Q&A with Dr. Jodi Skipper

Dr. Jodi Skipper (she/her) is a Professor of Anthropology and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi, who considers the role of historic preservation in imagining more sustainable and healthy futures for U.S. communities. In the Q&A, Dr. Skipper explains what inspired her to study anthropology, how she thinks academia can be more supportive of community work, and the fascinating research she’s recently participated in – in her own hometown.

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June 19, 2024

Transitional Justice in America: A Podcast

To spark action on transitional justice in America, ICSC produced Transitional Justice in America, a six-episode podcast series that raises awareness of how these processes can help the United States correct course and foster healing.

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May 16, 2024

From the Frontlines: Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ukraine

Since the brutal invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, it has become clear that Russian and pro-Russian forces have been committing widespread conflict-related sexual violence. Over the past year, our Global Initiative for Justice, Truth & Reconciliation team has worked with organizations on the ground in Ukraine to investigate and document these crimes.

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May 7, 2024

#VoteWithMemory campaign

In June 2024, millions of citizens will have the opportunity to participate in the European Parliament election. Voting represents the most direct way of influencing the composition of the European institution and, therefore, the future of the region and its role in the most pressing global challenges – including escalating conflicts, the polarisation of our societies, the climate crisis, human rights violations, and persistent economic inequalities. In this context, ICSC-Europe has launched the #VoteWithMemory digital campaign. The initiative highlights the importance of learning from Europe’s historical past to better address current crises and avoid their escalation and repetition. Read the open letter and join the campaign.

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May 7, 2024

Dialogue in Difficult Times

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience is pleased to offer its first ever virtual dialogue training course, open to members and non-members alike. Dialogue in Difficult Times is a six-hour virtual training designed to give staff at Sites of Conscience and like-minded organizations the theoretical and practical tools they need to build dialogic conversations. The training will be held on June 4th, 5th and 6th from 2:00-4:00 PM EST each day, and will be facilitated by Stacey Garcia and Linda Norris.

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April 25, 2024

Transforming Transitional Justice: A Podcast

Released in April 2024, “Transforming Transitional Justice” is a podcast from ICSC’s flagship program the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth, and Reconciliation (GIJTR) that focuses on rethinking how traditional transitional justice processes after a conflict can better serve the needs of civilians affected by periods of violence and authoritarian regimes. 

Each episode focuses on common issues that post-conflict communities face, from bolstering communities abilities to search for their missing, to documenting violations, to helping victims heal from conflict-related sexual violence.

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March 16, 2024

Transforming Transitional Justice

In celebration of its tenth anniversary, GIJTR hosted “Transforming Transitional Justice: Innovative Approaches for Centering Communities to Lead Post-Conflict” in Barcelona, Spain from March 18-19, 2024. The gathering brought together over 90 representatives from more than 30 countries, including GIJTR Consortium partners, local partners, survivors, policy makers, donors and civil society representatives, to reflect on GIJTR’s impact within its first ten years.

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March 14, 2024

Media and Racial Justice Webinar

View the recording of our latest webinar, “What Role Should Media Play in Reckoning with Contemporary and Historical Racial Justice in the U.S.?,” proudly co-hosted with the New England Law School (Boston)’s Center for International Law and Policy, and the International Human Rights Clinic and Racial Justice Policy Counsel, Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law.

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February 21, 2024

Training and Advising

For over twenty years, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience has helped museums, historic sites and other public spaces become dynamic centers for community engagement through personalized training solutions grounded in the work of thought leaders, educators and human rights advocates around the world. Supported by the time-tested methodologies of over 350 members, our interactive trainings guide your team from insight to implementation, and are designed to suit the unique experience and opportunities at your institution.

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December 14, 2023

ICSC Support for Gaza Ceasefire

We invite you, Sites of Conscience around the world, to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, the respect for human rights and international humanitarian law by all parties, and the provision without restriction of humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza.

Sign our statement today.

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December 14, 2023

Centering CRSV Survivors

On November 15-16, 2023, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC), through its Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation (GIJTR), convened a roundtable on conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) in the Hague, Netherlands. As a leader in the field of transitional justice, with extensive experience designing programs to support survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and their communities, ICSC was commissioned by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) to consult with survivors, survivor advocates, civil society representatives, policymakers, government representatives and donors and generate collective recommendations to bridge the existing gaps in CRSV support services to better meet survivors’ urgent and long-term needs.

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December 14, 2023

Racism and the Making of Atrocities 

In December 2023, ICSC’s Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation held a three-day workshop in Rio de Janeiro that convened nearly fifty policy makers, civil society representatives, academics and survivors working in the fields of transitional justice, peacebuilding and racial justice to develop a set a recommendations on addressing racism as a risk factor for atrocity crimes that can be used by states, international fora such as the United Nations, as well as civil society at local, national and international levels.

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November 21, 2023

State of Truth in the World Report

On October 12, 2023, ICSC’s Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation launched its State of Truth in the World Report, an assessment of civil society’s access to truth through the lenses of memory, education and justice. The first report of its kind, written largely by local civil society actors with a diversity of lived experience and expertise, the publication offers holistic, survivor-centered analysis of the access to and protection of historical truths in 18 countries worldwide.

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November 20, 2023

A Letter to ICSC Members

What we are witnessing today in Gaza is a moral failure and a humanitarian disaster that will plunge the world into deeper polarization and renewed cycles of violence.

In just over six weeks more than 12,000 thousand civilians have been killed in Gaza, including 5,000 children. Thousands are severely injured, unable to receive the medical care they need, and many more remain under rubble in need of rescue. Patients, including premature babies, are dying in hospitals where basic medical care can no longer be provided because of Israel’s blockade and attacks on hospitals. And thousands of families are desperately awaiting news of loved ones who have been missing, abducted or killed. 

Additionally, approximately 1200 Israelis and over 200 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed.

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November 6, 2023

GIJTR Newsletter

Subscribe to The GIJTR Report, which highlights our Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation (GIJTR)’s unique, victim-centered approach to transitional justice, spotlights its life-changing programs and distributes resources and methodologies with partners around the world.

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October 25, 2023

Tribute to Museo Sitio de Memoria ESMA

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC) would like to pay tribute to our Argentinean member Museo Sitio de Memoria ESMA, located at the Former Navy School of Mechanics site (ESMA) in Buenos Aires, as it became, on September 19, 2023, the first ever World Heritage Site to be nominated for its outstanding universal value as a Site Associated with Memories of Recent Conflicts and other negative and divisive memories.

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October 24, 2023

A Reflection: Perspective and Peace in Palestine

For over two weeks, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience has followed with the utmost attention the horror unfolding in Israel and Gaza. As a global network, many of our members have devoted decades to preserving and sharing the experiences of those whose lives have been devastated by war, repression, violations and abuses. In this context, Sites of Conscience work to defend international law and ensure accountability for crimes past and present while also offering new paths for peace and understanding. 

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June 9, 2023

Revitalization of La Maison des Esclaves

The rehabilitation of Maison des Esclaves represents a vital step in our universal efforts to break the historical silence that has long surrounded the transatlantic slave trade, and the political, social, cultural, and economic invisibility of its victims, including those who are still suffering from its brutal legacies today.

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March 28, 2023

Creating Change from Within

An Interview with Stacey Garcia Communications Assistant Kassidy Charles recently sat down with Program Manager Stacey Garcia, who is helping facilitate ICSC’s Addressing the Silences…

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March 9, 2023

Correcting the Record: The Case Study of Brazil

Camila Yanzaguano Bravo, Communications Associate at the Coalition, recently spoke to Thiago Haruo Santos, Researcher at the Museum, about the experience of the museum implementing the “Correcting the Record” methodology.

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February 15, 2023

Available Resources: Guns In America

Situated in “red” states and “blue” states, big cities and rural communities, Sites of Conscience and their allies are uniquely positioned to foster constructive dialogue on gun control among a wide subset of people. To support our members in this, ICSC recently hosted “Disarming America,” a webinar on how Sites of Conscience can spark productive conversations about gun control in their communities. In addition, we are pleased to share our Front Page Dialogue: Guns in America, which offers an adaptable model for engaging visitors in dialogue on the subject. Click to access both resources.

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January 12, 2023

If Memory Serves…On the Uses and Abuses of Remembering

In 2023, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience, is dedicating its monthly Conscience Matters webinar series to parsing out exactly how memory is best served. Each session will dive into the role memory plays in an urgent, contemporary discussion in the fields of human rights and social justice – drawing on the experiences of survivors, scholars, practitioners, and, most of all, Sites of Conscience who for over twenty years have functioned as laboratories designed to find the most effective, ethical, and equitable uses of memory.

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January 12, 2023

Statement on Brazil, January 2023

The institutions that make up the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC) and its Latin American and Caribbean Regional Network (RESLAC) strongly repudiate the terrorist actions that occurred last Sunday, January 8, in the city of Brasilia, when the three branches of the Brazilian state were invaded and vandalized by organized right-wing groups identified with former president Jair Bolsonaro. These actions of extreme violence, which systematically and in a coordinated maner seek to disrupt the rule of law, are the greatest threat to democracy in Brazil since its return in 1985 after 21 years of military dictatorship.

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December 20, 2022

The Duty to Remember: Fighting for Truth and Justice in The Gambia

In honor of her father Saul Ndow, who was forcibly disappeared in The Gambia in 2013, Nana-Jo Ndow founded the African Network Against Extrajudicial Killings and Enforced Disappearances (ANEKED), a youth-led civil society organization in 2018 to assist Gambians in healing old wounds and securing justice for victims and survivors. In this interview, she and Sirra Ndow, ANEKED’s Country Representative, speak with ICSC about the Site of Conscience’s mission and growth.

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December 16, 2022

Correcting the Record: Sites of Conscience Reflect on Their Own Collections

In 2022, ICSC developed a one-of-a-kind methodology through a year-long initiative entitled “Correcting the Record.” The methodology – which will be published in a toolkit in February – provides a roadmap for Sites of Conscience and other allies to assess and recalibrate their repositories in order to offer more inclusive historical narratives and expand their impact building more equitable, just, and resilient societies. Communications Assistant Kassidy Charles recently talked with Silvia Fernández, ICSC’s Global Networks Program Director, to learn more about the project.

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December 15, 2022

Explore Our Impact

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience is pleased to release our 2022 Impact Report, which explores how Sites of Conscience the world over are preserving and amplifying memory, how memory is catalyzing truth-telling, and how truth-telling is leading to accountability and justice.

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December 14, 2022

History in Conversation: Youth and Atrocity Prevention

Our Global Initiative for Justice, Truth, and Reconciliation (GIJTR) hosted a three-day Youth and Atrocity Prevention roundtable in early November 2022 in Bali. The event equipped seven youth activists from from Indonesia, the Balkans, Côte d’Ivoire, and the Philippines with the skills to establish grassroots and early response strategies for atrocity prevention.

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November 17, 2022

Correcting the Record Virtual Global Workshop

As part of the Coalition’s 2022 global initiative, Correcting the Record: Building Inclusive, Equitable, and Engaged Societies One Narrative at a Time, the Coalition hosted a two-day virtual global workshop on November 29-30, 2022.

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November 17, 2022

Project Support Fund 2023

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience is pleased to announce that applications for its 2023 Project Support Fund are now being accepted, with the consultation period from November 15, 2022, until January 15, 2023 and final submissions due on February 15, 2023.

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October 4, 2022

Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall

The Coalition’s Kassidy Charles recently talked with Krista McCracken, a researcher and curator at the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, a Site of Conscience in Ontario, to learn more about the site’s commitment to Indigenous-driven, decolonized history practice.

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October 4, 2022

Bosque Redondo

The Coalition’s Kassidy Charles recently sat down with Aaron Roth, the historic site manager at the Bosque Redondo Memorial at Forth Sumner, and Manuelito Wheeler, an advisor to the site, to discuss the space’s evolution and its lessons learned for other Sites of Conscience.

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October 4, 2022

Apply for 2023 Internships

We are excited to continue our internship program for 2023 in partnership with Newcastle University in which Sites of Conscience can apply to host a student from NU to intern at their site. Applications are due on October 26, 2022.

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May 3, 2022

Supporting Women’s Right to Choose

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience is outraged by reports that the U.S. Supreme Court appears positioned to overturn Roe v. Wade, which protects…

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March 10, 2022

2022 Member Survey

Every three years, the Coalition works closely with our members, staff and Board to update our strategic plan which serves to guide our programming around the world…

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March 1, 2022

Members at Risk

Statement on the Liquidation of International Memorial March 1, 2022 The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience (ICSC) condemns, in the strongest terms possible, the…

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February 25, 2022

Statement on Ukraine

On February 24, 2022, Ukrainian civilians awoke to the sounds of shelling and explosions following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order of an invasion of the…

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December 18, 2021

Migrations Museum Network

The Migration Museums Network is a group of museums that envision an open multicultural society, where human mobility is a universal right. They believe museums…

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November 25, 2021

#MeMemorial

Solidarity Statement on International Memorial November 17, 2021; Updated on November 25, 2021 and December 21, 2021 The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience stands…

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November 15, 2021

#SurvivorsKnowBest

In November 2021, the Global Initiative for Justice, Truth and Reconciliation (GIJTR) and Amplifier, a nonprofit design lab that brings together artists and activists, launched…

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September 27, 2021

2021 Project Support Fund Awardees

The Coalition is pleased to announce that four Sites of Conscience were awarded Project Support Fund grants (PSF) in 2021. Awardees will each receive grants…

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August 10, 2021

Remembering Sergei Kovalev

It is with great sadness that we at the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience note that prominent human rights defender, Soviet dissident, and one…

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July 27, 2021

Shared Journeys: A Virtual Exhibition

Ensuring that all histories – especially the most marginalized – are preserved and shared is a priority for Sites of Conscience around the globe. To…

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April 28, 2021

The Search for Mass Graves in Georgia

Despite acknowledging Georgia’s independence a year prior, in 1921 Russian forces overtook the country, declaring it a Soviet Socialist Republic. In subsequent decades, repression of…

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April 28, 2021

LGBTQI+ Rights in the Dominican Republic

While same-sex conduct is not technically criminalized in the Dominican Republic, unlike many Caribbean countries, LGBTQI+ Dominicans routinely face violence and discrimination. In this interview,…

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April 19, 2021

Alissandra Cummins, New Board Chair

The International Coalition of Sites of Conscience is thrilled to announce that Alissandra Cummins is the new Chair of our Board of Trustees. Director of…

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February 10, 2021

Revisiter le Rwanda

Créé en octobre 2017 par des réfugiés burundais vivant au Rwanda, Site of Conscience Forum for Vigilant Memory (FVM) travaille à éduquer les gens sur…

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February 2, 2021

Revisiting Rwanda

Established in October 2017 by Burundian refugees living in Rwanda, Site of Conscience Forum for Vigilant Memory (FVM) works to educate people about genocide, assist…

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November 6, 2020

Sites of Conscience and Democracy

Sites of Conscience across the globe know from experience that the slide from democracy to dictatorship can happen far more quickly than most people imagine….

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August 27, 2020

En Solidaridad: CIDH y Dr. Paulo Abrão

Agosto 26, 2020 La Coalición Internacional de Sitios de Conciencia (la Coalición) apoya a la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH) en la condenación de…

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July 22, 2020

Upcoming Webinars

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]With over 300 members in more than 65 countries, the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience offers unprecedented access to a range of sites and…

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April 8, 2020

COVID-19 Public Square

To best support members during this time, we have created the following Virtual Public Square as we know that even while we must be physically…

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March 23, 2020

COVID-19 Digital Front Page Dialogue

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. As of September 30, 2020, there have been over 33 million confirmed cases…

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