Advocacy

Iraq National Library and Archive Closings

Saad Bashir Eskander, director-general of the National Library and Archive in Iraq, decided to temporarily close the institution on November 21, 2006, due to increasing violence. Since the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the library has been looted and damaged. Located near areas of conflict between Sunni and Shiite militias, it has experienced increasing safety risks as violence escalated and has been hit directly several times. The institution contains archive and manuscript material dating back to 1535. Eskander had hoped to reopen the library on December 3. However, on his arrival in the office, a bomb exploded in a nearby building. Although the situation did not markedly improve, the library reopened the week of December 11. Eskander divided his staff into two groups that will each work three days per week. He stressed the importance of the archives to Iraq's future. "If Iraq becomes a stable country," he wrote, the institution "can play a constructive role in the transition process to democracy."

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Iraq National Library and Archive Closings