Museums that exhibit the faces and forms of injustice have the heavy responsibility of facilitating not merely remembrance but also empowerment.
The preservation of Tuol Sleng as the "crime scene" of the Khmer Rouge is meant to prove that torture and execution existed and to implant the idea that violators should be held accountable.
The presentation of materials from the perspective of "oppressed people" by LIBERTY OSAKA aims to remind us that human rights violations, as well as realization, occur in the most ordinary situations in our lives.
The honor being given by Bantayog ng mga Bayani to people who made great sacrifices in their struggle for human rights celebrates the fact that their efforts helped make us see the dawn of freedom.
Human rights museums are repositories of memories that tell us to "never again" suffer the injustices of the past. But these museums need not be frozen in time.
Since the faces and forms of injustice change, these museums may adapt to the present contexts, to the new interests of the young, to the new technologies of communication, to societal changes.
Human rights museums are reminders of the injustices that we have to confront now and in the future.