By Patricia Sleeman – Archivist Digital Preservation, Records and Archives
Calling all humanitarian practitioners, partners, researchers, and donors who create, manage, or rely on humanitarian data and archives—and who have a role in ensuring it endures!
On International Archives Day, we celebrate the vital role of records and archives in safeguarding information and strengthening accountability across the humanitarian sector.
A quiet crisis is unfolding across the humanitarian sector—and it is accelerating.
At UNHCR, we are actively addressing this risk. Through our Records and Archives function, we contribute to the Humanitarian Archive Emergency (HAE) initiative by providing leadership in records and archives and helping mobilise a coordinated, sector-wide response to safeguard humanitarian memory.
Vital records in all formats are at risk of disappearing: reports, datasets, operational files, and historical archives that document decades of humanitarian action. They are at risk of being lost, not only through sudden shocks, but through slower, cumulative pressures: funding constraints, organisational change, technology obsolescence, and fragile digital environments. Once lost, this knowledge cannot be recovered.
In response, the Humanitarian Archive Emergency (HAE) initiative has been established to mobilise a coordinated, sector-wide effort to understand and address this growing threat.
What is the Humanitarian Archive Emergency (HAE)?
The HAE brings together archivists, researchers, and humanitarian practitioners to tackle a shared challenge: the widespread loss of humanitarian records and data.
Funded by the Wellcome and Leverhulme Trusts and led by Professor Bertrand Taithe, the initiative is convened by the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at the University of Manchester, with support from partners including Elrha, the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), and Key Aid.
At its core, HAE aims to move the sector beyond concern and anecdote—to build a clear, evidence-based understanding of what exists, what is at risk, and what has already been lost.
UNHCR’s role
UNHCR Records and Archives is a member of the HAE consortium steering committee, contributing both strategic oversight and practical expertise in digital preservation. With more than a decade of experience in building and sustaining digital preservation capability, and 25 years of records management and archives management UNHCR engagement reflects a broader commitment: not only to safeguard its own records, but to support a more coordinated and inclusive response across the humanitarian sector.
HAE Global Survey
A core part of the HAE initiative is a global survey and regional consultations—to systematically map humanitarian records and archives at risk. This is not a routine audit. It is closer to a census of humanitarian memory. The survey seeks to answer three urgent questions:
- What records, datasets, and collections exist across the sector?
- Which of these are most vulnerable?
- Where have losses already occurred?
👉 Take the Humanitarian Archive Emergency survey
Participation is essential. Without a shared evidence base, it is impossible to prioritise action, target resources, or design effective solutions.
This is not a future risk—it is already happening.
Recent events highlight just how fragile digital knowledge can be. In early 2025, the USAID website went offline, taking with it a substantial body of publicly funded reports and datasets. While some materials were later restored, others remain difficult to access.
This is an example of a broader, less visible pattern: records disappearing quietly, systems being decommissioned, and knowledge slipping out of reach.
A shared but uneven challenge
The risk is shared—but not evenly distributed. Some organisations have been able to invest in digital preservation systems, policies, and expertise. Many others—particularly smaller NGOs and locally based actors—operate with limited infrastructure and resources.
In these contexts, critical records may be stored in project systems, external platforms, or personal devices, without long-term safeguards. This places locally grounded knowledge—often the most valuable and hardest to reconstruct—at particular risk.
Why this matters
Humanitarian records underpin accountability, learning, and continuity. They enable organisations to understand past decisions, improve future response, and demonstrate impact. Most importantly, they preserve the lived experiences and rights of affected populations. Their loss weakens all of these. Safeguarding humanitarian knowledge is therefore not optional—it is a collective responsibility.
A call to act
The global survey is the first step in addressing this challenge. We are inviting anyone working in or around the humanitarian sector to contribute—by identifying archives, records, and datasets that are at risk, damaged, or already lost.
The survey is available in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic and is designed to capture the real contours of this global issue for the first time.
Your input will help ensure that humanitarian memory is preserved—where it is most needed, and before more is lost.