- Filming The Uprising: Revisiting How Bangladeshi Youth Used the Right to Record to Overthrow an Authoritarian Regime This blog was written by our partner, Shoeb Abdullah, with contributions from the WITNESS team. বাংলা সংস্করণটি এখানে পড়ুন। On August 5, 2024, a monumental shift occurred in Bangladesh’s political landscape when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who had ruled the country for over 15 years, was forced to flee with her sister, Sheikh Rehana, […]
- ফিল্মিং দ্য আপরাইজিং: রেকর্ড করার হক ব্যবহার করে যেভাবে স্বৈরশাসন হটালো বাংলাদেশী তরুণরা Read the English version here. ৫ আগস্ট, ২০২৪। বাংলাদেশের রাজনৈতিক পরিমণ্ডলে এক যুগান্তকারী ঘটনার দিন। বৈষম্যবিরোধী ছাত্র আন্দোলনের নেতৃত্বে লং মার্চ টু ঢাকা কর্মসূচি দিনটিতে রূপ নেয় গণ-অভ্যুত্থানে। ১৫ বছরের বেশি সময় দাপটের সঙ্গে শাসন করা প্রধানমন্ত্রী শেখ হাসিনা বাধ্য হন বোন শেখ রেহানাকে নিয়ে পালিয়ে করতে। এর মধ্য দিয়ে বাংলাদেশের ইতিহাসে প্রথম বারের মতো […]
- Bearing Witness: The Power of Community-Led Documentation in West Papua This blog was written by our partner, Yokbeth Felle, with contributions from the WITNESS team. Baca versi Bahasa Indonesia di sini. Across West Papua, the struggle for justice is ongoing—and often silenced. In the face of repression, community-led documentation efforts have become a lifeline for truth, memory and resistance. From hidden archives to grassroots films, […]
- Menyaksikan Kebenaran: Kekuatan Dokumentasi Berbasis Komunitas di Papua Blog ini ditulis oleh Yokbeth Felle, dengan kontribusi dari tim WITNESS Asia-Pasifik. Read the English version here. Di seluruh Tanah Papua, perjuangan untuk keadilan terus berlangsung, namun sering dibungkam. Di tengah represi, upaya dokumentasi yang dipimpin oleh komunitas menjadi jalur penting untuk menjaga kebenaran, memori, dan perlawanan. Dari arsip yang tidak terpublikasi hingga pendokumentasian akar […]
- Defending Democracy: Human Rights Implications of Generative AI and Deepfakes in the 2025 Philippine Elections This blog is a report from a workshop held in the Philippines on 12th April 2025, which explored the human rights risks posed by generative AI and deepfakes in the lead-up to the 2025 elections. Participants examined how these technologies are weaponized for disinformation and political repression and shared strategies to defend truth and democracy. […]
- EU AI Act: Ensuring Rights, Disclosure and Meaningful Protections in the General Purpose AI Code of Practice WITNESS expresses concern regarding the changes in the EU AI Act’s third draft of the General-Purpose AI Code of Practice. These modifications impact transparency, risk assessments and copyright, and undermine fundamental rights.
- AI, Disinformation and the Battle for Truth: How Ghana’s 2024 elections exposed the new age of political deception Disinformation and deepfakes in Ghana’s elections exposed a new age of political deception, WITNESS responded by connecting local journalists with our Deepfakes Rapid Response Force and developing tactics for fortifying community truth.
- Deepfakes and Digital Abuse: Dismantling Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence To address the pressing problem of TFGBV, WITNESS has submitted recommendations to the United Nations Human Rights Council Advisory Committee as part of its study on TFGBV.
- French AI Action Summit: Critical Information Actors Must Be Centered in Public Interest AI The 2024 election year began by highlighting fears of AI’s profound societal impact on information ecosystems and ended with post-election narratives downplaying concerns about AI as exaggerated. This ignored a key truth: those most affected by AI shortcomings and harms—particularly in underserved regions and among critical frontline information actors —were overlooked, and opportunities for them […]
- Video sebagai Bukti: Pedang Bermata Dua dan Kekuatan Suara Komunitas di Papua Read the English version here. Blog ini ditulis oleh Yerry Niko Borang, dengan kontribusi dari tim WITNESS Asia-Pasifik. Pada 17 Oktober 2024, sekelompok pembuat film, dan aktivis pembela hak asasi manusia, mayoritas dari Papua, yang beragam berkumpul secara daring untuk mengikuti webinar yang diselenggarakan oleh WITNESS berjudul “Pengarsipan Video Hak Asasi Manusia: Paradoks Bukti dan […]
- Video as Evidence in West Papua: A Double-Edged Sword and Why Community Voices Matter On October 17, 2024, WITNESS hosted a webinar, "Human Rights Video Archiving: Paradox and Impunity in West Papua" exploring the challenges of using video evidence in the fight for human rights justice in Papua. The discussion covered how video documentation, despite its powerful potential, often faces manipulation, impunity, and digital security risks. Featuring activists like Bernard Koten and Raka Sudisman, the webinar highlighted the importance of community-led documentation, secure archiving, and ongoing solidarity for justice
- From Oral Traditions to Digital Archives Archiving in Africa has become crucial in both preserving the past and empowering the future in many different ways and regions. Video stands as one of the most potent tools for storytelling and documenting human rights violations, as it captures the voices and images of affected communities, vividly telling the story of their pain, struggles, and enduring hopes in the face of injustice.
- Cataloging Tools for Human Rights Video Archiving Written by Ines Aisengart Menezes and Yvonne Ng At WITNESS, one common question we hear from partners and community-based human rights video practitioners that we support on archiving is “What database tool should I use to manage my videos?”. It’s a tricky question, because there isn’t one single correct answer. Usually, our reply is, “It […]
- Findings from our global survey of archiving needs and practices Written by Ines Aisengart Menezes and Yvonne Ng A key part of WITNESS’s work is to help activists archive and preserve their videos so that they can be used to advance human rights, now and in the future. Over the years, we have consistently heard from partners and peers that archiving is a major gap […]
- Fortifying the Truth in the Age of Synthetic Media and Generative AI Written by Raquel Vazquez Llorente, Jacobo Castellanos, and Nkem Agunwa. In March 2023, WITNESS hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, over 20 journalists, fact-checkers, technologists, policy advocates, creators, human rights defenders and community activists from six African countries: Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Zambia. In our two-day workshop, we discussed threats and opportunities that generative AI […]
