Through service to international human rights scholars, activists, and students, the University of Texas Libraries (UTL) identified a need to preserve and make accessible the historical record of genocide and human rights violations. In order to address this need, UTL established the Human Rights Documentation Initiative (HRDI) at the University of Texas at Austin with a generous grant from the Bridgeway Foundation in 2008. Working with activists, scholars, and organizations to identify electronic and analog resources that are particularly vulnerable to loss, the HRDI aims to preserve the most fragile records of human rights struggles worldwide, promote the security and use of human rights archival materials, and further human rights research and advocacy around the world. Additionally, the Human Rights Documentation Initiative has partnered with the Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice to identify key strategic issues for the Initiative as well as provide relevant programming to the UT community and beyond.
The Human Rights Documentation Initiative is international in scope, with projects ranging from Kigali, Rwanda to the Burma border.
