- Rio’s favelas score victory against military police abuses Rio favelas win victory over police abuses as two police commanders were denounced by the Public Prosecutor’s Office for crimes committed in the illegal invasions of private residences in favela Complexo do Alemão.
- Military police raids turn Samba Square into a war scene Complexo de Alemao- Police Pacifying Unit (UPP) and Major Zuma called to answer for illegal invasions in Samba Square at a public hearing on April 24th.
- Community activists targeted as police killings escalate in Rio’s favelas Local activists and residents targeted by the military police for filming violence in Rio favela.
- Dispatch from Rio: Part 2 Week two of the Mutirão of Independent Media has been dramatic, productive and inspiring. See some of the highlights of our work covering the social impacts of the Olympics 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
- Live video, curation, and action at #Rio2016 Olympics With our allies in Rio de Jainero, we're conducting pilot projects using live video, curation and action to highlight human rights violations that took place in the lead-up to and during the Olympic Games.
- Dispatch from Rio: An alternative look at the Olympics WITNESS is working with activists in Rio to report on human rights issues and live stream coverage of how the Olympics affect the city’s communities.
- Response to New York Magazine on “disaster-free” Rio Olympics An estimated 70,000 people have lost their homes and at least 2,500 people, mostly in favelas, have been killed by the Rio police since the city first learned it would host the Olympics in 2009.
- Immersive Witnessing: From Empathy and Outrage to Action There are challenges and opportunities in virtual reality, live and immersive media for social good. New WITNESS projects aim to channel this empathy into meaningful action.
- 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.
- Brazil: Middle School Students take Government to Commission for Violence During Protests Young Brazilian students used video to document police abuse during protests to keep their schools open. Recently, they took their videos and their case to the Interamerican Commission for Human Rights and scored a big win for students across the country.
- Video as evidence in Brazil: New study by Article 19 and WITNESS shows potential is huge but untapped Videos as legal evidence help ensure justice in human rights cases, but the potential is still untapped in Brazil.
- Dispatch from Brazil: If killed by police, guilty by default … unless there’s video? Every year thousands of people in Brazil are murdered by the police, yet only 0.8% of the cases are ever investigated or brought to justice.
- Does Filming Police Violence Make a Difference? A Survey of Recent Cases From Los Angeles to Rio de Janeiro, the West Bank, and Kingston, violent interactions between security forces and civilians are caught on camera. But many factors are at play when it comes to if, when, and how this footage is used in efforts for justice and accountability.
- Documenting Rio’s Resistance: Interview with ‘State of Exception’ Director Jason O’Hara In his new film Canadian documentary filmmaker Jason O’Hara takes on forced evictions and mega-events, working collaboratively with Rio’s communities to tell stories of resistance and document human rights abuses since 2010.
- The Ties That Bind Us In the Fight to Expose Human Rights Abuse In her monthly message, WITNESS' executive director looks back on human rights stories from October and reflects on how our work resonates as more and more of us fight to expose human rights abuses.
