- From Syria to Burma: 2012 in Citizen Human Rights Video Only six words accompany the video. But they are just enough background needed for the one minute and seven seconds it depicts: “ROHINGYA MUSLIM VILLAGE IN ANDI VILLAGE 2.”
- Stand with our Youth: Write to President Obama and Ask for a Climate Recovery Plan Children share a future threatened by climate change, and many have found ways to make their voices heard. The youth of the TRUST Campaign have told their stories in a remarkable series of short videos, and they’ve taken action in the court.
- Two Years After Forced Eviction, Community Fights for Compensation in Rio de Janeiro Yesterday marked two years since government bulldozers arrived at the Restinga community in Rio de Janeiro to demolish the homes and small shops belonging to 153 families.
- Working for Sex Workers’ Rights in Macedonia Today is International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, and we are thinking back to the events of November 21st, 2008 in Skopje, Macedonia. That night, 23 sex workers, 8 clients, several passers-by and one NGO activist were detained in a police raid geared toward the “suppression of street prostitution”.
- 16 Days Series: Looking Forward to Solutions for Gender-Based Violence Over the past few weeks, we have highlighted videos and stories on the Human Rights Channel and the blog in honor of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. For this final 16 Days post, we’re highlighting some of the successful solutions and promising strategies that are being developed to address sexual and gender-based violence.
- An Open Source Approach to Translation The fact that 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute is astonishing. And the immense amounts of footage shot and uploaded by citizens in places like Syria, Egypt and Chile reminds us that video is increasingly being used to expose human rights abuses. As more activists turn towards video for advocacy and evidentiary purposes, there is a critical need for accessible training resources that teach how to create and share videos safely, effectively and ethically.
- 20 Powerful Moments in Human Rights Video Every year on December 10th, human rights organizations mark International Human Rights Day. To highlight our 20th anniversary and Human Rights Day, we're sharing 20 significant human rights video moments. Compiled by the entire WITNESS team and presented in chronological order, the list reflects instances where video (or film) made a difference: as evidence in a court or tribunal, galvanized mass mobilization or outrage, marked a turning point, a new use of technology for human rights, and more.
- 16 Days Series: Systems of Impunity – Gender-Based Violence in the USA As a citizen of a nation that's infamous for policing other countries’ human rights abuses, I rarely examine the abuses enabled by the discriminatory structures of the United States criminal justice system. So when I was asked to compile a video playlist for WITNESS’s participation in the global campaign 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, I began to think about the lack of introspection amongst Western voices critical of gender-based violence.
- 16 Days Series: Revealing Rape – How to Illustrate a Crime Women describe their rapes from behind black face scarves in videos on our site that documents sexualized violence in Syria. We have no photos of women whose faces aren’t covered. We have few photos of survivors of rape even with their faces covered. Sometimes these women hide themselves for religious reasons or for safety—for fear of retribution for speaking out—but oftentimes they cover themselves out of mortification. Rape has taken their cultural purity.
- 16 Days Series: Rape as Weapon in Political, Ethnic & Religious Conflict in Burma Over the last half-century, the Burmese have endured a violent military regime, censorship, ethnic tension, and religious conflict. As these videos indicate, the conflict in Burma affects minority populations and their women the most.
- Voices of Dignity: A Story of Struggle for Women’s and Victims’ Rights Yoladis Zúñiga and Petronila Mendoza survived an attack of right-wing paramilitaries on their villages, in which women and girls were raped, homes burned and a number of people killed, including their husbands.
- 16 Days Series: Videos Document Sexual Violence As a Tool of War In a number of current and past armed conflicts in Africa, rape has been used as a terrifying tool of war. From the Democratic Republic of Congo to Sierra Leone, sexual and gender-based violence have introduced a unique aspect of civilian atrocity during conflict, and rendered men, women, and children victims and survivors of heinous war crimes.
- Open Heart: A Short Film About the Importance of Access to Health Care By watching the journey of these brave children and their families, viewers come to understand more deeply the necessity of accessible health care and the importance of second chances. We are honored that Open Heart has been shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination in the Short Documentary category.
- Videos Highlight Progress and Challenges During 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence It’s a time when activists rally around the issue of gender-based violence. We challenge the power structures, perceptions and impunity that allow gender-based violence to persist, call for concrete actions to address these issues at the local, national and global levels, and demand accountability for perpetrators of this crime, along with justice and assistance for those who experience it.
- Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Early Days of Music Video Activism This video of ‘My Country Tis of Thee You’re Dying’ is from an episode of Pete Seeger’s Rainbow Quest, is demonstrates an early blending of video, song, and human rights advocacy.