- Understanding the Dangers of Gendered Disinformation in African Elections Co-authored by Temiloluwa Alalade One of the targets of SDG 5 is to “ensure women’s full and effective participation, and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.” Over the years, there has been a steady increase in the percentage of women’s leadership and participation in politics and […]
- Fact from Fiction: Curbing Mis/disinformation in African Elections Co-authored by Temiloluwa Alalade During election season, voters are inundated with campaign materials intended to sway their votes. To engage with information meaningfully voters should have a basic understanding of digital and media literacy as well as critical thinking skills. Experts in Kenya warn that disinformation in elections may increase electoral violence globally. Election–related misinformation […]
- How Gendered Disinformation in Nigeria Precludes Justice for Survivors of SGBV This blogpost is part two of a two part series. Part one here. Co-authored by Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi The rise of technology, currently in its fourth revolution, has precipitated image-based abuse and online violence against women and girls. When misinformation and disinformation infiltrate the digital space, it spreads with horrifying speed in the absence of […]
- Truth, lies and social media accountability in 2021 In 2021, critical issues at the intersection of social media, accountability, and human rights are finally at the center of global public discussion. It took the attempted insurrection at the US Capitol to lead to social media platforms finally suspending former President Donald Trump’s accounts and forcing a discussion about online content, hate and violence. […]
- Camera Justitia: Bringing Human Rights, Law and Film Together Every spring a large gathering of human rights defenders and filmmakers come together for the Movies that Matters Film Festival. While this year’s festival had to move online, the celebration of the selected ground-breaking films moved forward. As part of the festival, an international jury awards one filmmaker with the Camera Justitia Award and €5,000 […]
- Keep fighting; keep filming This month marks three years since Eric Garner was murdered by the NYPD. This month, Black Lives Matter turned four years old. And this month marked four years since a jury of almost all white women acquitted the man who killed Trayvon Martin of second-degree murder. Racism in the United States has been forced out […]
- Expose human rights abuses, not the people who survive them You’d probably never heard of him last week, but his face has gone viral this week. Dr. David Dao, the man who was dragged off of United Airlines flight #3411 on Sunday, was trying to get home to see patients. Instead, he ended up getting violently dragged off of a flight—to provide space for United crewmembers.1 […]
- The NYPD Wants to Know Your Thoughts on Bodycams (Kind of) Many police departments in the US, including the NYPD, are expanding their use of bodycams. But is this enough?
- Facing an Epidemic: An Interview with ‘Zika, the film’ Director Debora Diniz WITNESS interviews documentarian, Debora Diniz, whose recent film Zika provides an intimate portrayal of women affected by the virus in Brazil.
- An International Collaboration Brings Western Sahara into Focus Watching Western Sahara is a collaborative video curation platform created to curate and contextualize eyewitness footage of human rights in the occupied territory of Western Sahara. WITNESS’s Madeleine Bair and FiSahara’s María Carrión explain how and why the collaboration came to be.
- Analysis of Eyewitness Video Data Shows Climate of Hatred Toward Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People The WITNESS Media Lab shares initial findings from a new project focused on curating and analyzing data from videos of violent acts against transgender and gender nonconforming people that have been captured and shared for entertainment.
- Video Forces Military to Apologize for Torture in Mexico Thanks to a video circulating online, the Secretary of National Defense in Mexico publicly apologized for an incident of torture for the first time in the nation's history.
- Activist Brahim Saika Dies in Detention & Sahrawis Take to the Streets The death of a Sahrawi activist fuels protests in Western Sahara and southern Morocco, and renews attention to the treatment of Sahrawi political prisoners.
- Watching Protests in Western Sahara Online videos document protest tactics by Sahrawi activists and repression by Moroccan authorities.
- Curating Online Videos to Monitor Human Rights in Western Sahara As UN diplomats relaunch talks between Western Sahara and Morocco, a new WITNESS Media Lab project will curate footage from the disputed territory.
