On June 23, 2023, a meeting of the collegium of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus was held
On June 23, 2022, a meeting of the Board of the Department for Archives and Records Management of the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Belarus (hereinafter referred to as the Department) was held.
The Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus S.N. Khomenko took part in the work of the collegium.
The following issues were discussed at the board meeting:
1. On the progress in fulfilling the instructions of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus, given following the results of a visit on August 5, 2022 to the institution «Belarusian State Archive of Film and Photo Documents» and discussion of the development of the archive sector (minutes of August 5, 2022 No. 05/28pr), and the development funds from state archival institutions in the first half of 2023.
2. On the state of work in state bodies and other organizations to change the terms of classification, the degree of secrecy
and on declassification in relation to documents in archival storage, including those classified during the existence of the USSR.
Also participating in the work of the board were:
Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus O.N. Kot;
Chief Advisor of the Department of Education and Social and Cultural Sphere of the Office of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus M.V. Leshkevich.
On the first issue of the agenda, the report was made by the First Deputy Director of the Department O.A. Ledovskaya.
In her speech, O.A. Ledovskaya noted that the targets in the main areas of archival activities are being met in full.
State archival institutions accepted for permanent storage from organizations – 58,359 files (51 percent of the annual target); archival documents digitized – 765,351 electronic pages (53.5 percent of the annual target); organized and held – 220 exhibitions (90.5 percent of the annual target).
The whole range of works on the execution of instructions of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Belarus was carried out in the following areas:
1. Strengthening the information and educational activities of state archival institutions.
2. Implementation of a project to create a chronicle of the modern Belarusian state using film, photo and audio materials that reflect every year of its history, starting from the creation of the BSSR.
3. Presentation on the Internet of information about the military operations on the territory of the Republic of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War, information about the heroic resistance of the Belarusian people to the Nazi invaders.
4. Digitization of documents by state archival institutions, taking into account the significance of such documents for the history of the development of the Belarusian state and society.
5. Providing open access to digitized documents of the National Archival Fund of the Republic of Belarus.
6. Presentation on the Internet of information about the military operations on the territory of the Republic of Belarus during the Great Patriotic War, information about the heroic resistance of the Belarusian people to the Nazi invaders.
7. Development of financial resources by state archival institutions in the framework of strengthening the material and technical base:
7.1. conversion of buildings for 5 state archives (State Archive of Vitebsk Region, State Archive of Gomel Region, State Archive of Public Associations of Grodno Region, State Archive of Mogilev Region, State Archive of Minsk);
7.2. modernization and overhaul of buildings of state archival institutions;
7.3. carrying out current repairs of buildings of state archival institutions;
7.4. purchase of equipment for working with archival documents;
Deputy director of the National Historical Archives of Belarus I.I. Kovganova and deputy director of the State Archives of the Gomel region A.P. Mitskevich made presentations on this issue.
Assessing the work of state archival institutions, the Minister of Justice of the Republic of Belarus noted the need for attestation of the heads of republican archival institutions at the end of the year, pointed out the importance of the moral and psychological state in state archival institutions, gave a positive assessment of the activities of archives in the framework of the implementation of exhibition projects, urged to increase the role of archives in in the social sphere, in particular in the form of organizing open days, organizing competitions, creating specialized classes in secondary educational institutions.
At the same time, the Minister of Justice pointed out the need for a systematic approach in the work on digitizing archival documents.
The Minister of Justice also spoke about the organization of the Best Reading Room competition, which will be held this year for the first time.
The Minister of Justice pointed out the need to start active preparations for two important anniversaries: the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Belarus from Nazi invaders (2024) and the 80th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War (2025).
Separately, the Minister of Justice outlined a position on strengthening the methodological assistance of the Department to the archives of local executive bodies, and also noted the need to intensify work in the field of office work.
On the second item on the agenda, the head of the department of office work, formation and preservation of the NAF O.V. Zayanchkovskaya made a report.
In her report, she dwelled on the need to maximize the work on the part of state bodies to review the degree of classification of archival documents.
Director of the National Archives of the Republic of Belarus A.K. Demyanuk, director of the State Archives of Public Associations of the Gomel Region N.Yu. Abramova and representatives of the republican government bodies responsible for these issues in their departments made co-reports on this issue.
Based on the results of the work of the collegium, the director of the Department O.L. Voinov specified the procedure for implementing the instructions given by the Minister of Justice at the meeting of the collegium.
