- Archivists’ Victory over Overbroad Copyright Claim A joint statement from Human Rights Watch, Mnemonic, and WITNESS, with lead authoring by Deborah Brown, Senior Researcher and Advocate on Digital Rights, and Gabriela Ivens, Head of Open Source Research, at Human Rights Watch. November 25, 2020 A decision by GitHub, a leading software development platform, to reinstate a popular free software tool for downloading videos, […]
- The role of video evidence in Nigeria’s #EndSARS movement 20 October 2020 On October 3, a video showing the extra-judicial killing of two civilians by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Nigeria Police, sparked outrage on social media. It led to more and more Nigerians sharing videos and personal stories of their brutal encounters with SARS operatives – a unit that became notorious […]
- 4 new resources to help activists use video during COVID19 Filming and sharing documentation for human rights can expose injustices, put a spotlight on stories rarely heard, and create movements that hold perpetrators and decision-makers accountable. But if advocating for accountability is dangerous on a normal day, even more so during a global pandemic. This is why the WITNESS team is devoted to working with […]
- Making Your Metadata Matter, Part 2 We’re pleased to welcome guest bloggers Wendy Betts and Raquel Vazquez Llorente here to share their insights on documentation apps and metadata for legal purposes. Wendy Betts is the Director of eyeWitness to Atrocities, an organization that combines legal and technological expertise to aid investigations and promote accountability for international crimes. Raquel Vazquez Llorente is […]
- Making Your Metadata Matter Metadata plays a crucial role in authenticating and verifying human rights footage for external audiences. When you are assessing which documentation app to use, it is important you fully understand the metadata collected by the app. This blog outlines the questions we recommend you ask.
- Coronavirus and human rights: Preparing WITNESS’s response UPDATE: Our COVID-19 landing page is here (and Portuguese, Spanish) COVID-19 (Coronavirus) is creating rapid and dangerous human rights implications globally, directly impacting people’s lives, livelihoods, security, health, ability to work and freedom of movement and assembly, as well as leading to implications for digital rights and increasing online surveillance. The immediate implications of coronavirus – […]
- Documenting During Internet Shutdowns With contributions by Arul Prakkash Also available in Arabic and Spanish Last reviewed: 31 January 2020 In June 2019, as human rights abuses and a humanitarian crisis were continuing in Myanmar, the country’s Ministry of Transport and Communication directed telecom companies to shut down their mobile internet service in parts of Rakhine State and neighboring […]
- Should I Use This Documentation App? This post is part of a series on Documenting During Internet Shutdowns. Look out for our comparison chart of various documentation apps, coming soon! Also available in Arabic and Spanish. With contributions by Arul Prakkash Last reviewed: 31 January 2020 There are many apps that documenters can use to capture video, ranging from your phone’s […]
- Human rights defenders are not terrorists, and their content is not propaganda Counter-terrorism is not a field that is known for its respect of human rights. The word terrorism, though it does not have any commonly agreed upon legal or societal definition, has often led to the implementation of repressive measures, not only in authoritarian regimes, but also in countries recognized as democracies. The United Nations Office […]
- Promoting and Defending the Right to Record Secrecy breeds impunity. But the ability to record the police and military can expose human rights abuses to the world. International human rights law confirms the right of everyone, not just the press, to record military and law enforcement without fear of arrest, violence, or other retaliation. But unfortunately, the reality is that right isn’t […]
- The Right to Record Recognized at the United Nations Last month, the United Nations Human Rights Council promoted the right to record explicitly in resolution A/HRC/38/L.16 — WITNESS explains what this means for activists and human rights defenders around the world.
- Police Violence Against Local Teens is Caught on Camera in Rio de Janeiro By Victor Ribeiro and Dalila Mujagic. A video containing footage of a brutal police incident went viral amongst social media users in Rio de Janeiro. The footage shows Lapa Presente officers — a unit of military police dedicated to tourist areas and funded by a group of business and economic interests called the Federation of […]
- #6D – Documenting Elections in Venezuela Venezuela will hold its parliamentary elections on December 6th and there is a high possibility of violence in and around the polling areas. Here are some basic tips for capturing and sharing footage of violations.
- Stopping Bulldozers: Fighting Forced Evictions with Video From citizen journalists in India to audiovisual artists in Colombia, people are using WITNESS resources to strengthen their grassroots work in the fight against forced evictions and to empower more to get involved.
- Front Page News: Why We Can All Benefit from Tools to Verify Video What if our devices could capture and store more information in our media? What if we could help media makers make their material trustworthy? WITNESS is excited to announce that we are very close to launching a beta version of InformaCam for testing!
