- Western Sahara—Africa’s Last Colony Western Sahara, with a population of over half a million people and 200,000km land mass – the size of South Dakota – is the world’s largest non self-governing territory. It is also Africa’s last colony, left under Moroccan occupation following the retreat of Spanish colonial power in the 1960s. The human rights situation is still […]
- Open Conversations & Collaborations in Franschhoek “We need to be able to show breasts.” This was only one of many learning moments at this year’s WITNESS retreat: the importance of Facebook support groups for the trans-community, specifically around sex reassignment surgery and for those navigating the challenges of transforming their body and identity. “For much of the queer community, this is […]
- Combating Gender-Based Tech Violence: Groundviews, Sri Lanka Part 1 of 2 Exactly a year ago, on 5th March 2018, we watched as flames engulfed Digana, in the heart of Kandy. We saw quiet, multi-ethnic suburban localities swept up by a wave of anti-Muslim wrath. On 6th March 2018, the Sri Lankan government responded by blocking access to Facebook, Whatsapp and Viber, on […]
- Rio goes live Image: Brazilian politicians livestreaming while campaigning and breaking a Marielle Franco sign. Current Rio governor on the right and a now-elected deputy breaking the sign. By Adriano Belisário As mobile phone access and Internet bandwidth increased in this decade, video streamings became an important part in the political dispute: such as in the beginning with […]
- Call-outs in live streamings Mobil-Eyes Us is a project of WITNESS and the WITNESS Media Lab to explore potential new approaches to livestream storytelling for action. We look at technologies, tactics and storytelling strategies to use live video to connect viewers to frontline experiences of human rights issues they care about, so they become ‘distant witnesses’ who will take […]
- WITNESS brings together voices to push back on dangerous EU “Dissemination of Terrorist Content” proposal What do human rights defenders, journalists, archivists, and digital rights groups from California to Lebanon to Southeast Asia have in common? We all agree that the proposed Regulation on Dissemination of Terrorist Content Online, currently moving through the Committee process in the European Parliament, is a serious threat to free expression online—and, paradoxically, to efforts […]
- How to Back Up WhatsApp By Yvonne Ng and Gabi Ivens Published on: 25 January 2019 The messaging platform WhatsApp has 1.5 billion users worldwide and is increasingly being used as a tool to organize, mobilize, as well as to share important human rights content. This tutorial, put together by WITNESS, helps you decide whether you should use WhatsApp’s built-in […]
- How to export content from WhatsApp By Yvonne Ng and Gabi Ivens Published on: 18 December 2018 The messaging platform WhatsApp has 1.5 billion users worldwide and is increasingly being used as a tool to organize, mobilize, as well as to share important human rights content. This tutorial, put together by WITNESS, walks you through how to download and export your […]
- What image gives you hope for human rights? [UPDATE, DECEMBER 10th] In just a few hours, we’ve already received responses from activists in more than 20 countries and contributions continue to pour in on Twitter and Facebook! THANK YOU – we’re humbled by your courage and grateful for your participation! We’ll keep updating this playlist throughout the week with your images of hope: […]
- Harm Reduction for WhatsApp Thanks to WITNESS’ Mozilla Fellow Gabriela Ivens for contributing the section on cloud backups and to all WITNESS partners and human rights defenders who have shared experiences of using WhatsApp that informed this article As we noted in our other WhatsApp focused blog post today, “Whats Up, WhatsApp?”, activists and journalists all over the world […]
- What’s Up, WhatsApp? We share some ideas for how WhatsApp can combat misinformation while preserving end-to-end encryption.
- Introduction to Mobil-Eyes Us Mobil-Eyes Us is a project of WITNESS and the WITNESS Media Lab to explore potential new approaches to livestream storytelling for action. We look at technologies, tactics and storytelling strategies to use live video to connect viewers to frontline experiences of human rights issues they care about, so they become ‘distant witnesses’ who will take […]
- Suicide or Escape? Fact Checking Reporting on Migrant Abuse in MENA How media misreported a Snapchat video of migrant worker abuse, and how we can do better
- Occupying Dhaka Inspiring widespread activism on social media, a nation-wide youth-led movement for road safety emerged across Bangladesh and in cyberspace, as students in Dhaka drove the city to a standstill.
- Trapped in the Gulf: Exposing Migrant Abuse This post is part of the WITNESS Media Lab’s new project, “Perpetrator Video in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)”. This project examines how human rights advocates and journalists can turn the proliferation of eyewitness and perpetrator video into more ethical and effective storytelling and documentation of human rights abuse in the MENA. Follow along each […]
