Peter Gabriel, Gillian Caldwell, Sara Federlein, Sam Gregory,
and Jenni Wolfson
Moving Images
WITNESS and Human Rights Advocacy
Fallbeispiel „Innovationen“.:
WITNESS
PETER GABRIEL: BEGINNINGS
Back in 1988 I was part of Amnesty International’s “Human Rights Now!” Tour,
which was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. We managed to persuade Bruce Springsteen, Tracy Chapman,
Youssou N’Dour, and Sting to join us, and we toured over nineteen countries.
During that time I met hundreds of survivors of human rights abuses and listened
to their stories of suffering and frustration. These were people who had been bru-
tally tortured, forced to flee their homes and countries, who watched their loved
ones murdered, and suffered overwhelming forces of oppression. What all of these
personal accounts had in common was that the perpetrators went unpunished for
their crimes. These human rights abuses were being successfully denied, ignored,
and forgotten, despite many written reports. Aber, it was clear that in those cases
where photographic film or video evidence existed, it was almost impossible for
the oppressors to get away with it.
The Reebok Human Rights Foundation was set up after the Human Rights
Jetzt! Tour to give awards to extraordinary young people for courage, commit-
ment, and compassion in human rights works. At our Reebok Human Rights
Foundation annual meeting, I proposed that we begin an initiative to supply
human rights activists with video cameras. It was in 1992, after the videotaping of
the Rodney King beating in Los Angeles, that the Foundation realized the poten-
Peter Gabriel is the co-founder of WITNESS, and Chair of its Board; Gillian Caldwell
was Executive Director from 1998 Zu 2007; Sara Federlein is Development Manager;
Sam Gregory is Progam Director; Jenni Wolfson is Acting Executive Director.
The case is in three parts. The first is written by Peter Gabriel; the second by Gillian
Caldwell with Sara Federlein; and the third by Sam Gregory with Jenni Wolfson.
In recognition of her work with WITNESS, Gillian Caldwell received a Skoll Award in
2005. The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship has also recognized Gillian
Caldwell as an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur.
© 2008 WITNESS
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Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson
tial impact of video cameras in human rights work. The lasting impression of the
violence and the ensuing riots demonstrated the enormous power of the visual.
Paul Fireman and the Reebok team generously agreed to get behind this initiative,
and Michael Posner, of what is now Human Rights First, offered us a home with-
in his offices. Thus was WITNESS born.
Those were the days before technology and the Internet had the potential to
connect even the most isolated people to the global community. For many of the
activists I met, who believed in a new potential for human rights, the Human
Rights Now! Tour offered them their first opportunity to join in solidarity with
others from around the world.
Sixteen years later, the original mission of WITNESS remains true. We’ve come
a long way since our early focus on providing video cameras to human rights
groups. Our original slogan was “Give Cameras for the World,” and in fact the
mobile/cell phone manufacturers have largely done that job for us. We now have
a rigorous application process for partnership and provide our partners with
hands-on training in video advocacy. We broker relationships with political lead-
ers and journalists to ensure tactical distribution of our partners’ videos. And we
show their videos on our website, on television, and at film festivals worldwide to
make sure they get seen by audiences everywhere.
Since our inception, we’ve collaborated with more than 300 partners across 70
Länder, who have together created a living archive of more than 3,000 hours of
important footage. That’s a lot, but it’s nothing compared to the overwhelming
demand and potential for our support. To address this need, we’ve begun to pro-
vide short-term trainings to an even broader array of social justice groups, creat-
ing a global army of activists equipped with the powerful tools they need to shape
their own destinies. And with the launch of a long-held dream of mine—the
Hub—we are expanding this universe even further.
The Hub is the world’s first participatory website dedicated to human rights,
Video, and action. It is part of a new generation of tools assisting individuals and
groups to create and share content, to connect with each other, and to organize and
mobilize. The Hub has been designed to take advantage of all the Internet’s oppor-
tunities for people all over the world to participate, by allowing advocates to con-
nect with far broader networks that may be interested in supporting their cam-
Schmerzen. It also, very importantly, allows them to connect with groups and individ-
uals who may be able to influence and affect their issue, along with others using
media for social change.
I hope that the innovative work of WITNESS and the other groups discussed
in this article will inspire not just human rights activists, but other defenders of
social justice to embrace the use of technology in their work. In this age of media
conglomeration and ever-increasing control over what we see and hear, it is criti-
cal that we support independent voices in the search for truth and accountability.
Never before has there been such opportunity to allow all witnesses to be seen and
heard and to create change.
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Moving Images
GILLIAN CALDWELL WITH SARA FEDERLEIN:
FROM VISION TO ACTION, FROM ACTION TO TRANSFORMATION1
I often think about Cecilia. She is a woman from the war-torn country of Sierra
Leone. In front of a courtroom of people, Cecilia recounts how rebel soldiers muti-
lated and killed her son before beginning to bury her alive. She is one of the sub-
jects of Witness to Truth, a video WITNESS produced with Sierra Leone’s Truth
and Reconciliation Commission on the country’s decade-long civil war—and a
reminder of the enormous power of video to connect us with people who have
experienced human rights abuses in places far away.
I first came face to face with the power of images as a little girl living in New
York City. My mother ran an art gallery in SoHo and our loft was adjacent to the
gallery. One day, a canvas appeared on our living room wall. It was a massive and
very intense painting by Leon Golub, featuring a mercenary government agent uri-
nating on a political prisoner. The prisoner was lying on the floor with his hands
bound and tied. Several other agents were standing by while the torture pro-
gressed, and one of them was staring at me—staring at him. It was as if he was
challenging me to stop him. Golub made everyone who looked at his so-called
“mercenary” series of paintings a witness—and left us wondering what we were
going to do with the images seared in our mind’s eye.
Fast forward two decades to 1995, when I was working as a civil rights attor-
ney in Washington, D.C. I left my job to collaborate on an undercover investiga-
tion into the trafficking of women out of Russia for forced prostitution. Soon after
our first investigation in Russia, we got introduced to WITNESS, which gave my
collaborator and me a second Hi8 video camera to use in producing our film. Nach
um 18 months of filming and other investigations in Russia as well as in Japan,
Macau, Deutschland, Holland, Schweiz, und die Vereinigten Staaten, we produced a film
called Bought & Sold: An Investigative Documentary about the International Trade
in Women. The film contained an unusual mix of grainy undercover footage of our
transactions with the mafia, candid interviews with women around the world who
had been forced into prostitution, and testimonies by human rights experts and
counselors to help frame the issues. The film and its associated advocacy helped lay
the groundwork for a Congressional Resolution on trafficking, and subsequently
for the U.S. Congress to pass the Trafficking Victims Protection Act and for the UN
to approve a protocol against human trafficking. It was then that I realized how a
few people with a camera could make a real difference in the world.
After the success of Bought & Sold, I was recruited to become WITNESS’ first
full-time executive director. At that time WITNESS was still a project of the
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First). Two years later,
we spun off as our own, independent 501(C)(3) organization and set up shop in a
loft in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan. We were an extremely lean oper-
ation back then, with only four paid staff and a team of dedicated interns handling
everything from training our partners in the field to video production, media out-
reach, fundraising, and administration.
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Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson
We have all come a long way since then. Jetzt, In 2008, we have a staff of 30 Und
a budget of $4.9 Million, and our offices take up nearly three floors of a building subsidized by the City of New York for arts and media organizations, based in the Fort Greene section of Brooklyn. Our mission has also evolved since our initial focus on providing video cameras to as many human rights groups as possible, since we realized that a video camera is only effective if the user is properly trained. We now provide our partners with hands-on training in what we call “video advo- cacy” and support them from start to finish in producing powerful videos to sup- port their campaigns. And we broker relationships with political leaders, film fes- tivals, and media-makers to ensure targeted distribution of their productions. Video: A Complementary Approach to Advocacy The challenge of the modern human rights movement has always been to create accountability: using independent, transparent, and enforceable mechanisms to ensure that human rights standards are maintained and that citizens have a right to participate in civil society on equal terms. Many human rights organizations operate under the philosophy that you must shine a spotlight on governments and perpetrators to shame them into action and accountability. Um dies zu tun, these organizations conduct detailed research and inves- tigation, collect testimonies, and establish patterns of abuse. They advance their advocacy goals by releasing written reports, organizing and mobilizing supporters, and lobbying decision-makers. WITNESS’ experience shows that shaming tactics alone do not always inspire mobilization, response, or redress. While WITNESS does seek to shine a spotlight on abuse, WITNESS’s theory of change is rooted in the research and experience showing that catalyzing long-term and sustainable change within societies relies on those societies having a vibrant, independent, and diverse civil society. daher, one of WITNESS’ major aims is to help local groups become stronger, build capacity, and increasingly, Netzwerk. Video has a candid authority that the written word lacks and it serves as a pow- erful evidentiary tool. WITNESS recognizes that visual media are an essential part of both the documentation and advocacy process, and that the use of visual media complements and augments all these traditional and important elements of human rights campaigning. This has yet to be realized broadly, whether on an international or a more local, grassroots level. Thus another key aim of WITNESS’ model is to support groups in testing and adopting the tools of video in their work. As long as the vast majority of human rights groups around the world remain unable to take advantage of these tools, due to either basic technical or resource impediments or challenges in their environments (e.g. government censorship), the human rights community is not fulfilling its potential to protect and promote human rights at all levels. 38 Innovationen / Frühling 2008 Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/2/35/704356/itgg.2008.3.2.35.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023 Moving Images Seeing is Believing I can think of no more powerful example of the power of images to spark change than the events at the Abu Ghraib prison in 2004. Major human rights organiza- tions—including Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International—had released written reports on the abuse of Iraqi prisoners months earlier, but it was only when the visual evidence surfaced—in this case shot by the perpetrators themselves— that the public took notice and demanded accountability and reform. More recent- ly, Egyptian bloggers publicized videos shot by police officers of their colleagues’ mistreatment and torture of suspects in Egypt. Police brutality had been regularly documented and condemned by local and international human rights groups, but the bloggers’ action prompted a local exposé that catapulted the story into the international media and led to the conviction of two policemen accused of mis- treating one suspect. However powerful these examples are to inform and inspire change, visual images alone are not enough. Many entrenched human rights issues never make it to the headline news, and the vast majority are not “caught in the act” in the way of an Abu Ghraib or a Rodney King. What WITNESS offers—our “value added”— is the technical and strategic skills groups need to document the aftermath of an abuse, to bring anonymous human rights facts to life through the personal stories behind the figures, and to know how to get those stories in front of audiences who can take action. In our field, three types of video can generally raise awareness of human rights issues: advocacy video, witness documentation, and perpetrator video. All three are facilitated by proliferating technology, by increasing digital literacy, and by increased opportunities for sharing, remixing, and re-circulating. Most of WITNESS’s focus is on advocacy video and on finding opportunities where bring- ing the visual story into the virtual or real room can make a difference. Here we are trying to change the vernacular language of human rights advocacy, to make a space for the voices from outside, and to push a new way of communicating around rights abuses. Frequently our videos are about speaking to a particular audience at a partic- ular time and seeking a distinct change in policy, behavior, or practice. Videos are always part of a continuum of action—and a strategy—rather than stand-alone. Here we are working in between the extremes of undifferentiated mass media attention and direct evidence in the courts. This could include showing video to an international or regional tribunal. Zum Beispiel, we have been involved in a prece- dent-setting case to present video before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on land rights in Kenya. It could involve bringing the voices of vic- tims and the visual evidence of abuses in Burma into a Congressional briefing or a meeting of Security Council representatives. Or it can involve engaging commu- nities themselves to take action on a rights issue, for example by showing a video on the voluntary recruitment of child soldiers in villages across eastern Congo. Videos always provide a “space for action” by the audience, encouraging them to innovations / Frühling 2008 39 Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/2/35/704356/itgg.2008.3.2.35.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023 Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson Violence, Abuse, and Neglect of Youth in California’s Prisons The Case of System Failure Background: The California Youth Authority (CYA) is one of the largest youth correctional agencies in the country. Its purpose is to rehabilitate youth in trouble and protect the public, aber stattdessen, it has been a source of rampant human rights abuse. WITNESS joined forces with Books Not Bars, a project of our core partner, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, to produce System Failure, a video highlighting the grave human rights violations experienced by youth imprisoned in the CYA; the violations include sexual abuse, beatings, forced medication, and systemic medical and educational neglect. Goals: System Failure advocates for people to close the eight CYA prison-like facilities, bolster local community-based programs, and establish regional centers that emphasize rehabilitation. Drawing on the voices of incarcerated and ex-incarcerated youth and their parents, as well as footage of the official hearings into the CYA, it is directed toward California policymakers, local and state juvenile justice officials, parents of imprisoned children, and community organizations; its compelling financial, moral, and practical case for change even draws on the supportive voices of CYA officials themselves. Copies of the video have been distributed to all California state legislators, and the film was screened at the State Capitol in January 2005—the first time a video was ever screened there. Ergebnisse: Five days after the precedent-setting screening, Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero (D-East Los Angeles) built on political momentum to announce sweeping legislation on the CYA that would initiate a process of comprehensive reform. Zusätzlich, in response to a lawsuit filed by the Prison Law Office and the powerful advocacy campaign mounted by Books Not Bars and its allies, the CYA committed to reforming California’s juvenile justice system to a rehabilitative model based on a therapeutic environment. The advocacy has also resulted in concrete changes for youth through a series of reform bills introduced in the State legislature. Since the release of System Failure, California’s youth prisons have seen a nearly 50 percent reduction in population, with several counties drastically reducing their rate of commitment. Heute: The goal of closing down the youth prisons is becoming a reality. Im Januar 2008, the Division of Juvenile Justice (the new name for the CYA) announced that it will close two of the youth prisons by July 31, 2008. Books Not Bars will continue to build on the widespread public support to shut down California’s youth prisons—and to ensure that the commitments and momentum result in transformation of the state’s juvenile justice system. 40 Innovationen / Frühling 2008 Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/2/35/704356/itgg.2008.3.2.35.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023 Moving Images participate in solving the problem. This framing can come from within the video or in the way it is presented within a campaign. Rather than relying on “visual evidence” in and of itself, users have to place it in a narrative framework that explains it and offers ways to act. Seeing may be believing, as the saying goes, but it can also lead to pessimism and compassion fatigue in the absence of opportunities to act. We are not promoting a journalistic model of neutrality. Our experience is that marginalized voices are excluded enough without the need to balance their voices with those of authorities or perpetrators. So most advocacy videos do have a point of view and an outcome in mind, but goals are best achieved with clear respect for the facts of the situation. Beyond production, we work closely with our partners to make sure that the videos they create get into the hands of those with the power to make a difference. WITNESS partner videos have been key components of campaigns targeting local, National, and international decision-makers. They have been screened at the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the Brazilian Congress, the United States Congress, the International Labour Organization, and the International Criminal Court, and many other influential bodies. This type of high-level advocacy can only result from developing highly focused advocacy plans, and spending signifi- cant amounts of time and energy to achieve the goals outlined in them. A Shift to Maximize Impact Because such intense commitment is required to maximize the potential of a par- ticular campaign, In 2003 WITNESS made the decision to change our program model yet again to focus on two complementary approaches. The new model entailed scaling back the number of intensive partnerships with human rights groups (our “Core Partners”) to no more than 15 per year, allowing us to invest more time and resources into each one, and launching a new program called Seeding Video Advocacy, which provides a basic introduction to video advocacy for the hundreds of other organizations that approach us for support each year. Taken together, these two programs enable us to enhance both the depth and the breadth of our work, serving the needs of the global human rights community in a much more strategic way. So far our new approach seems to be working. In the past five years, we’ve seen more advocacy successes in our Core Partner campaigns than during the previous eleven years combined, and many participants in our Seeding workshops have reported campaign successes using video. What unifies all this work is WITNESS’ role in providing strategic and techni- cal support so that frontline activists dramatically enhance the effectiveness of their campaigns. WITNESS is deliberate about responding to needs expressed at the local level rather than driving an agenda from our New York office. We do not solicit potential partners; stattdessen, local human rights groups approach us and must undergo a rigorous, multi-stage application process before we decide to part- ner and invest our resources. We focus on organizations with clear advocacy goals that are already engaged in human rights work through campaigns in which video could play a pivotal role. WITNESS seeks groups that want to build their capacity innovations / Frühling 2008 41 Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/2/35/704356/itgg.2008.3.2.35.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023 Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson Justice for Child Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo The Case of A Duty to Protect Background: The widespread recruitment and use of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is unparalleled throughout Africa. Tens of thousands of child soldiers have been recruited as combatants by all parties to the conflict, which has claimed some four million lives. An estimated 30,000 children have been recruited and used as child soldiers—an action deemed a “war crime” by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has been investigating the DRC as one of its first cases. Together with Core Partner AJEDI-Ka/PES in the DRC, WITNESS produced the video A Duty to Protect as the centerpiece of a major advocacy campaign on the issue. Goals: A Duty to Protect draws on the voices and experiences of local leaders, advocates and effected children to advocate for an end to impunity in the DRC and for accountability for and prioritization of crimes committed against chil- dren. The video calls for increased support for the ICC within the internation- al community and, insbesondere, within the United States. The campaign also recommends specific measures to strengthen the work of the ICC in the DRC by calling for the court to create a local presence, and to engage in systematic outreach and communication with the local population before, während, and after prosecutions. Im November 2005, the video was screened at a public event in The Hague during the Assembly of State Parties (ASP) to the Rome Statute; and during 2005’s ASP, the video was screened in private meetings between AJEDI-Ka/PES and key personnel at the ICC, such as the Office of the Prosecutor, the investigations team for the DRC and the Office of the Registrar. In addition to screenings before the ICC, A Duty to Protect has been distributed widely among civil society organizations, and shown to UN Security Council ambassadors, members of the U.S. Congress, and the media. Ergebnisse: Thanks to a global advocacy campaign which included Ajedi-Ka’s advocacy and use of A Duty to Protect, in March 2006, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was arrested by the ICC for his alleged involvement in enlisting and conscript- ing child soldiers. The trial against Mr. Dyilo will begin in June 2008 in The Hague. Since Mr. Dyilo’s arrest, the ICC has arrested two additional warlords for recruiting and using child soldiers, and indicted a third. Heute: Insecurity continues in the eastern region of the DRC, with active fight- ing causing thousands of people to flee their homes. Amidst this insecurity, AJEDI-Ka/PES continues to work to demobilize child soldiers and reintegrate them into their communities. Using On the Frontlines, another video produced during the partnership with WITNESS, AJEDI-Ka/PES is traveling from village to village to end the voluntary recruitment of child soldiers. Über 22,000 peo- ple in the eastern DRC have seen the video, resulting in a significant decrease in numbers of voluntary child soldiers. 42 Innovationen / Frühling 2008 Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/2/35/704356/itgg.2008.3.2.35.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023 Moving Images A Child Soldier Speaks Out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to use video effectively, and our partner portfolio represents a range of issues around the world. Once accepted, partners receive a digital video camera kit, tech- nical and tactical training, and long-term support in producing, Bearbeitung, and dis- tributing video as part of their campaigns. Throughout the course of the relation- ship, it is the partner, not WITNESS, that leads the campaign advocacy agenda and video production efforts. This collaborative bottom-up or grassroots approach enables us to respond organically to emerging issues in the human rights landscape. The result is that marginalized groups that otherwise would not have a global platform for their campaigns can reach audiences with the power to make a difference. One example of this is our partnership with the organization AJEDI-Ka/PES in the Democratic Republic of Congo, described in the text box opposite. These partnerships also build the groups’ capacity to drive their own advocacy long after WITNESS leaves the picture. What we’re seeking is a multiplier effect that exponentially increases the leverage of WITNESS’ investment and leads to self-sustaining video advocacy initiatives over time. This same collaborative spirit drives the Seeding Video Advocacy initiative. The Seeding program includes presentations, workshops, and trainings for human rights activists, students, filmmakers, and academics. Workshop participants use case studies to understand the advantages and challenges of using video as an advocacy tool, and learn the components of a video advocacy strategy. The work- shops range from half a day to two weeks. The longer trainings focus on practical innovations / Frühling 2008 43 Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/2/35/704356/itgg.2008.3.2.35.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023 Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson Human rights defenders at annual Video Advocacy Institute training Effective Strategies for Using Video in Human Rights Advocacy The key to an effective video advocacy strategy is to have a clear sense of your goals and audience, and to choose the most appropriate strategy for your needs. This is a selective list of ways that video can be used to enhance human rights campaigns. WITNESS’ book Video for Change addresses many of these poten- tial approaches in detail. • Video evidence before a national court, regional body, or international tri- bunal. • Video reports before a UN treaty body, special rapporteur, or working group. • Focused, action-oriented video before government, corporate, or civil socie- ty decision-makers. • Video as a grassroots education and mobilizing tool for communities, and as an organizing tool for solidarity groups supporting your work. • Video-blogging to build supporter engagement in a campaign. • Online video advocacy on sites including the Hub (hub.witness.org), incor- porating spreadable/viral video clips, and supporting direct participation and mobilization by supporters. • Video public service announcements. • Video documentaries to reach a broader public. • Video as source for news broadcast and as an archive for b-roll. • Video filming as a deterrent to further abuse. 44 Innovationen / Frühling 2008 Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/2/35/704356/itgg.2008.3.2.35.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023 Moving Images exercises, screenings, and discussions, giving participants a chance to learn techni- cal skills and insights into developing a strategic plan for using video. In 2007, through the Seeding program, WITNESS trained nearly 1,000 filmmakers, Aktivisten, students, academics, and advocates around the world. As another part of this program, we widely distribute our book, Video for Change: A Guide for Advocacy and Activism, and our “Guide to Video” Advocacy, a series of short video training films/animations. An offshoot of the Seeding program is the annual Video Advocacy Institute, a two-week immersive introduction to video advocacy for a group of 30 selected participants working on critical human rights issues around the world. WITNESS embraces a growth strategy focused on the broad, non-proprietary dissemination of its methodology. WITNESS encourages others to use and adapt its model for building video advocacy. This means sharing innovations through partnering, dis- tributing resources freely, and relying on open-source technology and Creative Commons licensing to ensure access. At this juncture, WITNESS is also committed to investing more deeply in pre- Portion, and increasing public access to, the WITNESS Media Archive. Representing a major investment in staff time and effort—and a core component of WITNESS’ mission—the archive today contains more than 3,000 hours of rare footage from advocates around the world and is rapidly becoming the world’s lead- ing repository of human rights video. The archive collects and preserves footage of witness and survivor testimonies, abuses caught on tape, interviews with human rights defenders, evidentiary submissions, and footage of cultural events and daily life. WITNESS catalogs and preserves this video documentation as an act of histor- ical guardianship, to provide original human rights content to the media and other outlets, to support the continuing work of our partners, Und, in some cases, for possible future redress and accountability (Zum Beispiel, in cataloguing direct doc- umentation of abuses, and preserving the testimony of victims and survivors). The archive is accessible online at www.witnessmediaarchive.org and will soon begin to acquire new content via the new Hub initiative discussed in the following section. It All Comes Down to the Stories The inspiration and philosophy behind WITNESS always come back down to the individual stories. Our mission is built upon the art of storytelling, and a video is only as powerful as the stories it contains. This is what makes the medium arguably the most direct and visceral tool of communication we have to work with today, and what has always drawn me to video as a tool for advocacy. Take, zum Beispiel, the wrenching story of Neyra Azucena Cervantes. Neyra was a beautiful 16-year- old girl who disappeared on her way home from school in her home city of Chihuahua City, Mexiko, in May 2003. Her body was later found. She had been raped and murdered, joining the fate of hundreds of other women in the region— a phenomenon termed “feminicide.” As if this were not enough for one family to confront, Neyra’s first cousin, David Meza, was then tortured into falsely confess- ing to her murder and spent three years in jail awaiting a trial. Thanks to an inter- Innovationen / Frühling 2008 45 Von http heruntergeladen://direct.mit.edu/itgg/article-pdf/3/2/35/704356/itgg.2008.3.2.35.pdf by guest on 07 September 2023 Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson Memorial to Neyra Azucena Cervantes © WOLA national campaign for his acquittal by our partner, Comisión Mexicana de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos, which included the video Dual Injustice produced with WITNESS, David was released in June 2006. Bedauerlicherweise, Neyra’s real killer has not been found and to this day the families are advocating for jus- tice. Another story I can’t forget is that of Valdemir—a young Brazilian man who is essentially a modern-day slave toiling in rural Brazil. In Bound by Promises, Valdemir describes how he was hired to load 130-pound logs onto trucks on a charcoal estate for sixty days straight only to receive a $45 paycheck—one-tenth of
what was promised to him. When he complained, he was told simply, “A bullet
from my shotgun is all you have a right to here.” Human rights groups estimate
that currently around 25,000 men like Valdemir enter indentured servitude each
year in rural Brazil. Driven from their homes and families by the lack of other eco-
nomic opportunities, these men often end up indebted to landowners and must
work endlessly in an effort to buy back their freedom. Some die on the job. Others
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Moving Images
A Duty to Protect
Sometimes in our videos the line between victim and perpetrator becomes
blurred. In A Duty to Protect, we meet a girl named January who wears fatigues
and recounts how she joined the army when she was ten years old. January is one
of thousands of children who have been recruited as soldiers in the Democratic
Republic of Congo. They are taught to kill—adults, other children, Manchmal
even their own families—and given drugs to numb their fear and conscience. Als
with many girl soldiers, January’s plight is made worse by the sexual violence she
must also confront on a daily basis. Im November 2005, in association with our
partner AJEDI-Ka/PES, WITNESS screened and distributed A Duty to Protect to
key International Criminal Court (ICC) officials to encourage the ICC to inves-
tigate and prosecute those responsible for recruiting and using child soldiers. In
Marsch 2005, an ICC commitment was secured and the ICC arrested Thomas
Lubanga Dyilo from the DRC for enlisting and conscripting child soldiers. His
trial will begin in June 2008.
never see their families again.
Bound by Promises is part of a major campaign advocating for an end to slave
labor in Brazil. Thanks in part to high-level screenings targeting decision-makers,
the crucial federal Mobile Inspection Squads have been reinstated, and discussions
on the expropriation of offending landowners’ land are back on the agenda.
Following screenings during the development of Commissions for the Eradication
of Slave Labor in five different Brazilian States, more money has been invested in
new programs to generate income and employment. These screenings have also
prompted local Department of Labor officers to conduct investigations modeled
on the successful federal Mobile Inspection Squads, which are the workers’ first
and best hope for being released and seeking justice.
As powerful as these and other videos are, they only have an impact if they get
seen. WITNESS is continually looking for new opportunities to promote our
videos and expand our audiences. In this sense, we are fortunate because WIT-
NESS represents the confluence of three forces—human rights, entertainment,
and business—as represented by our three founding entities—Peter Gabriel, Die
Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, and the Reebok Human Rights
Foundation. This merging of disparate sectors affords us the opportunity as a
social enterprise to draw upon creative multi-sector initiatives, and on a growing
team of high-visibility supporters to promote the issues in our films. WITNESS
has also been fortunate in having opportunities to work with world-famous per-
formers who are interested in speaking out on human rights issues. When Angelina
Jolie travels with WITNESS staff to Sierra Leone, when Mexican actors Gael García
Bernal and Diego Luna hold a press conference about the murders of women in
Juárez and Chihuahua, and when Grammy Award-winning musician Lenine of
Brazil raises his voice against slave labor in his country, the visibility of these issues
rises dramatically.
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Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson
A Decade of Growth and Innovation
Like many start-up organizations, our initial funding came mainly from the foun-
dation world. Our seed grant from the Reebok Human Rights Foundation helped
to leverage support from other funders after I came on board; this included a range
of donors like the Ford Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation and Glaser Progress
Foundation, Und, more recently, the Omidyar Network, the Skoll Foundation for
Social Entrepreneurship, and the Oak Foundation, among many others. Wir haben
also been supported over the years by a core group of committed individual
donors and by some corporate sponsors. We have a small but steady earned
income stream through the sale and licensing of our video archive and the sale of
fine art prints through a project called “Artists Support www.witness.org,” which
features collaborative works by international artists including Shirin Neshat, Kiki
Schmied, Sebastião Salgado, and William Wegman.
These days our revenue stream comes from these many sources: 46% aus
Fundamente, 15% from individuals, 11% from corporations, 4% from earned
Einkommen, 13% from our annual benefit gala, Und 11% from in-kind goods and serv-
ices, which includes all our excellent legal and design work. This breakdown rep-
resents a healthy balance of support for our operations, though we continually
seek to diversify our support base to lessen our reliance on any one source of fund-
ing. We also maintain a lean and efficient administrative capacity: for every dollar
donated to the organization, 75% directly supports our programs, which is signif-
icantly higher than the industry standard of 66%.
In the past four years, we have quadrupled our staff and budget, and within the
past year alone we have grown by approximately 20 Prozent. To manage this rapid
rate of expansion and to scale our operations in the most effective way possible, Wir
have had to face many challenges, on both the institutional and the societal fronts.
Internally, we have begun to organize all our key goals and activities into five broad
Key Results Areas (KRAs): (A) training in video advocacy; (B) generating advocacy
impact; (C) building an accessible human rights video archive; (D) expanding
awareness and engagement in human rights; Und (e) developing institutional
Kapazität. This clear set of priorities helps to reinforce everyone’s understanding of
how their work contributes to the larger mission of the organization.
Another internal challenge has been deciding how to monitor our model for
impact in a way that is measurable, accurate, and results-oriented. Advocacy work
is notoriously difficult to quantify, since systemic change takes time and typically
involves a number of factors—such as capacity building, awareness-raising, recon-
ciliation, and prevention of future abuse—that are a challenge to measure. It is also
not usually appropriate to point to a video as the only reason a campaign succeeds.
WITNESS has overcome this barrier to measuring impact through a pioneering
“Performance Evaluation Dashboard,” an approach for quantifying human rights
advocacy work. The biannual review—which takes its name from its visual resem-
blance to the dashboard of a car—is licensed under Creative Commons and fre-
quently cited as a model by others. It provides a series of at-a-glance metrics that
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Figur 1. Measuring Outputs and Outcomes with the Performance
Evaluation Dashboard.
sets forth goals, quantifies and qualifies results, and notes how to improve our
arbeiten.
Perhaps the greatest challenge to the efficacy of our work lies in force majeure:
our lack of ability to control or influence the everyday situations our partners and
allies face in their local environments. Local organizations around the world fight
overwhelming odds to advance the cause of civil society. Many WITNESS partners
operate in locations without rights and rule-of-law traditions, where governments
are too weak or unwilling to enforce basic civil and legal protections, or where
transnational corporations control local resources. Für einige, societal conditions—
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Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson
Armut, starvation, Krieg, natural disaster, and lack of education—create situations
where the powerful can exploit children and adults as soldiers, sex slaves, or cheap
Arbeit. Others confront ingrained religious, cultural, racial, or gender biases that
create entire classes of people who are not protected by law.
Often these forces derail our most thoughtful and strategic plans. Zum Beispiel,
we have supported a group in the Russian North Caucasus to gather, edit, and dis-
tribute video on the impact of counter-terrorism operations, yet the security sit-
uation frequently impedes their implementation on the ground. In the past sever-
al months, three colleagues from the organization have been detained by the secu-
rity forces. Außerdem, because of many obstacles put in place by the Russian
government, human rights organizations engaged in the struggle for justice in
Chechnya have yet to work in concert. This limits the overall potential advocacy
impact they could be having—which in turn could alleviate some of the everyday
impediments they face.
Another challenge we face is how to capitalize on emerging technology oppor-
tunities and make sure that the people who could potentially benefit the most from
these tools are not left out due to inequities in access. Enormous divides remain,
not only between countries and continents, but within those societies, and in terms
of access not just to technology and economic opportunities, but also to gover-
nance and to media representation. So along with its incredible potential to decen-
tralize and liberate communications and organizing, technology presents limita-
tions that play out in different ways in different places around the world. In a land-
scape of media overload and sensory saturation, how can we carve out an online
space that is a trusted source for the global human rights community, and that is
accessible to those who need it the most?
These are among the challenges WITNESS faces today as we look ahead.
SAM GREGORY WITH JENNI WOLFSON:
WITNESS FOR A NEW GENERATION OF PEOPLE AND TOOLS
WITNESS is currently in a moment of transition as we prepare for a new Executive
Director to help steer our organization forward, leveraged by the growing promise
for video to effect change in the world.
We are on the threshold of a tremendous expansion in the use of video in
everyday communication and in human rights advocacy. Im 16 years of its exis-
tence, WITNESS has mirrored a progressive expansion of the participatory possi-
bilities of video. In 1992, a handicam cost around $1,500; now many cell phones at entry-level pricing have built-in video, and the Pure Digital Flip cameras we have started to provide to activists can be bought for just over $100. Alongside this
increased access to recording tools, almost every computer now has video-editing
Kapazität. And in the past three years we have seen the possibilities grow for
increased collaboration in editing and production, and for online distribution. Alle
this is facilitated by a digitally literate younger generation that uses mobile tech-
nology with both still-image and video capability and new online tools.
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Our Home, Not a Park: Defending the Endorois People’s Rightful Place
This expanded capacity to film, share, and collaborate around moving images
offers us the promise for radical transparency and accountability. Peter Gabriel,
our founder and co-author of this case, has talked about “Little Brothers” and
“Little Sisters” now watching “Big Brother.” For us, this world of the participatory
panopticon2 can be one filled with emancipatory potential. But we must ensure that
the footage that circulates helps facilitate voice and change and does not—as we
discuss later—enable viewer apathy, violation of personal dignity, and state repres-
sion.
Where Video will be Adopted
Multiple areas for expanding the use of video and online technologies are appear-
ing simultaneously. Every day, concerned citizens become more and more able to
document violations and use new media venues to share that imagery. Just think
of the protests in Burma and Tibet, and a growing number of other recent exam-
ples in both the global South and North. Meanwhile our peer human rights organ-
izations are more attentive, at both the global and local levels, to ways they can
make video an integral part of their formal campaigns. And people are increasing-
ly aware of the novel modes of advocacy made possible by increasing connectivity.
Zum Beispiel, see Amnesty International UK’s “Unsubscribe-me” campaign3 with
its intensely powerful and visceral viral videos demonstrating the reality of stress-
position torture and waterboarding.
WITNESS looks to innovate and lead in these areas so that we can build a
strong, broad global movement using video for change. Zum Beispiel, in tradition-
al advocacy terms, we recently worked with a respected local human rights group
in Kenya, CEMIRIDE, as well as a leading international human rights organiza-
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Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson
tion, Minority Rights Group International, to use video in CEMIRIDE’s case
before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Here we see how
video can fit in the monitoring, Rezension, and decision-making spaces of the inter-
national human rights system. The video evidence submitted in the case, support-
ing a powerful legal case marshaled by CEMIRIDE, involves the use of visual evi-
dence that illustrates the challenges facing the indigenous Endorois people, WHO
were displaced from their land to make way for a national park. It also demon-
strates the failure of the Kenyan government to observe its treaty obligations. Es ist
the first time, to our knowledge, that video has been accepted as evidence at the
Commission.
As we look ahead we envision a role for ourselves as pushing the increasing use
of video in the mainstream of human rights monitoring and adjudication: Bei der
UN Human Rights Council with its new Universal Periodic Review process, Bei der
International Criminal Court as it starts to hear its first cases and considers new
investigations, in the UN treaty monitoring bodies, and within the regional human
rights systems. Video is also increasingly relevant in the day-to-day work of per-
suading and engaging communities, lawmakers, and policy-makers to understand
the visceral realities of human rights violations as they are understood and experi-
enced by those most directly affected. Often nothing can be more powerful than
first-hand experience and visual evidence delivered into a space where people are
more used to second-hand reporting and written reports. We are also about to hire
our first full-time program coordinator for North America, recognizing that build-
ing respect for human rights norms at home is a critical contribution to the glob-
al movement for justice.
We are exploring new approaches to advocacy that will capitalize on low-cost
access to technology combined with the power of local narrative. In one Southeast
Asian country we are empowering community members to document the wide-
spread nature of forced evictions across a whole region by providing them with
training to use simple Flip video cameras. Soon they will be able to document the
whole timeline of evictions—the situation before and during the events and after-
wards—and share that compelling, complete story to demonstrate the widespread
and systematic nature of the violations. The concept is to create a wall of visual evi-
dence and testimony screened to the global public. Then the delinquent govern-
ment in the capital city cannot deny the incident by claiming that it did not hap-
pen or was a one-time occurrence
The Hub
In the emerging world of citizen-generated media we have taken an aggressive step
to address what is missing in the online human rights ecosystem. Launched on
Human Rights Day, Dezember 10, 2007, the Hub (hub.witness.org) harnesses the
power of online technologies, the explosion in social networking, and the ubiqui-
ty of portable media devices to create an international online community for social
Aktion. We envision the Hub, built with open-source software, as the human rights
channel for the online community where anyone can upload or view human rights
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The Hub Homepage:
related media, share it with others, self-organize into affinity groups around a
human rights campaign, acquire background information, comment on material
Dort, and most importantly access tools for action and guidance on how to turn
their video into compelling advocacy material. The site places a strong emphasis
on security both for the uploader and for those filmed, and on providing the con-
text for the imagery wherever possible. As a leader in our field, we can also help
support new approaches to participatory media, particularly in oppressive con-
texts. These norms should help concerned citizens understand the implications of
creating and distributing media—for themselves and for the people they film.
The launch of the Hub moves WITNESS closer to the promise of Peter
Gabriel’s powerful original vision: the possibility of a technology-enabled populist
platform where everyone’s stories of human rights abuse and solutions are heard.
Peter wanted to put video cameras into the hands of as many human rights
activists as possible in the hope that they would capture evidence of abuses and put
their footage into the public sphere, provoking a global response. The Hub vastly
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Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson
extends the reach and range of WITNESS’ work, connecting the campaign-focused
Core Partner program and the training sessions of the Seeding workshops with an
expanding online global community for human rights.
A key element of our Hub strategy is enabling uploads from mobile devices.
The latest statistics indicate that there is now one cell phone account for every two
people on earth. Many people, particularly in the Global South, will more likely get
their chance to film and to access the Internet through a phone than through a
camera and computer. So we anticipate that much direct “witness documentation”
of abuses will be shot on and sent directly from cell phones.
Our collaborators on the Hub include international organizations like
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Elders, along with regional
groups like Fahamu in Africa, and national networks like the U.S. Human Rights
Network and Drishti Media in India—and a myriad of individual concerned citi-
zens, documentary film-makers, and local human rights organizations. WITNESS
including Al-Jazeera
is also working with a range of media organizations,
International, Global Voices Online, International PEN, and Magnum Photos. And
soon, anyone will be able to place a branded Hub “player” on their own website to
directly import relevant content that they select, Zum Beispiel, all Hub content
around child rights or Latin America or Iraq.
By employing a collaborative, partnership model, and by translating the Hub
into multiple language versions, we can give it far greater reach on the local,
regional, and international levels than would otherwise be possible.
Why Not Just YouTube?
We often get a question about the Hub: Why not just use YouTube? Tatsächlich, viele
of the videos on the Hub have also been placed on YouTube by activists. Es ist Pos-
sible to use YouTube or any other site to host content, and then embed it on the
Hub. In many cases we can see real value in drawing on the mass public reached by
YouTube. The power of YouTube is that it is increasingly becoming the most
prominent platform for video online, at least in the global North and for English-
language media. From an advocacy perspective, we see its advantage if a video
achieves prominent placement or takes off virally on YouTube. We also recognize
that YouTube is a pushing-out point for footage that finds homes in many other
spaces online (websites, blogs, social networks, usw.) that serve particular commu-
nitäten, where it will be embedded and re-contextualized.
Nevertheless we also see some significant limitations to YouTube and like-
minded commercial sites as a platform for focused human rights activism. Erste,
finding an appropriate human rights video on YouTube can be like looking for a
needle in a haystack. Zweite, for citizens looking to ensure that their footage gal-
vanizes action, but who are also concerned about security and suspicious of cor-
porate and government surveillance, YouTube and their ilk may not be the best
Auswahl. On YouTube, these individuals and their videos are likely to be small fishes
in a big pond;4 their video uploads lack opportunities to be embedded and contex-
tualized within a meaningful community where they can generate action. Diese
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people and groups also face the risk of commercial exploitation of human rights
Bilder, cannot ensure safety and security for themselves and those they have
filmed, and face inflexibility in redistribution, downloading, and sharing of their
work.5 With YouTube and most commercial sites, editorial control is vested outside
the user community, so controversial or difficult material like footage of human
rights violations may be taken down or marginalized. This is in stark contrast to
the Hub, where our specific purpose is to ensure that human rights material is
hosted within a supportive community, and our goal is to ensure that a space exists
for important footage, however challenging to watch.
The Hub specifically addresses these community, security, and control limita-
tionen. In contrast to many commercial platforms, the Hub carries no advertising,
does not retain IP addresses, and advises users on how to avoid surveillance. Soon,
it will also include functionality allowing downloads so that people can use it in
the most appropriate setting to generate action. We currently have an editorial
process to ensure that videos fit human rights based guidelines and to flag content
that may require further attention or follow-up because of its graphic nature or
apparent risk to individuals featured; eventually, we hope, the community will
monitor, rate, and control the content that is on the site (they can currently rate
footage and flag it for review by the Hub team at WITNESS). Additionally WIT-
NESS does not claim ownership of the footage and allows the user to choose a
Creative Commons license that will lay out precisely how they want their work to
be used.
For us, the drive to action is critical. From the activist’s point of view, Nichts
is worse than risking your life to film a piece of footage, and then having that expe-
rience dismissed. From the victim/survivor’s perspective, it is hard to have these
abuses exposed and not find justice or at least know that your testimony will pre-
vent the same abuse from happening to others. From the viewer’s point of view,
nothing is worse than being exposed to scenes of misery and to have no way to take
Aktion; that experience contributes directly to the compassion fatigue that we all
experience already.
From the point of view of human rights advocacy, on sites like YouTube it is
very hard to turn a transitory audience into an engaged public. Human rights
activism requires a community oriented towards action; online environments
where no one “listens” or responds constructively are the opposite of the empow-
erment that grounds WITNESS. As Howard Rheingold has observed in relation to
youth participation online, “It isn’t ‘voice’ if nobody seems to be listening.”6 Our
experience illuminates the need for a dedicated space for human rights and ensu-
ing action.
In the Hub’s first four months of quiet beta, we have had approximately five
million views of our media, and nearly 800 items of media have been uploaded. Wir
are now starting to see that many human rights media items receive more views on
the Hub than they do on YouTube, which suggests that we are creating the right
kind of environment.
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Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson
Networked Advocacy and New Possibilities
New movements in advocacy look to draw on the capacity and capabilities of a
networked universe of supporters. Within campaigns, this “network-centric advo-
cacy” relies on dense information connections to allow individuals to draw on and
act with networked, shared resources. Marty Kearns has pioneered this approach
with his organization Green Media Toolshed. As he describes it, traditional advo-
cacy involves the advocate organization picking and packaging an argument for
delivery to an audience, but a network-centric approach asks the network “to find,
package and select the arguments.… The network picks the message.” For exam-
Bitte, think of MoveOn.org’s “Bushin30Seconds” video contest. Ähnlich, whereas a
traditional advocacy campaign has a core communications team at its center man-
aging the campaign, a distributed network campaign trains “many spokespeople to
speak in their own voice.”7
Incorporating such a network-centric approach, and combining it with estab-
lished, tried-and-tested strategies, is another key direction for video advocacy. To
see how such an advocacy approach could work with video, let’s take the example
of Burma. In a country whose military government exacts human rights violations
against its own citizens daily, we soon hope that activists on the ground will be able
to shoot—on cell phones and video cameras—footage of attacks on civilians in
eastern Burma and repression of citizens in the cities. They can then upload that
footage securely (and anonymously if necessary) to the Hub, where a community
of concerned users could see a map of violations, circulate it, and incorporate it
into campaigns. Through the process of tagging with GPS coordinates, this pow-
erful footage from the ground could be combined with satellite imagery of villages
destroyed or displaced by junta attacks in eastern Burma, or of troop movements
on the streets of Mandalay. Then it would provide both scientific “indisputable”
credibility from the skies, and documentation from the ground, providing the
direct imperative to act. Deployed by solidarity groups in the U.S., it would then
be used in Congressional lobbying, and in screenings and presentations before key
decision-makers on issues of sanctions and aid policy.
A significant component of grassroots organizing in the U.S. around Burma
has been to encourage local and student groups to encourage their university
administrations to pass “selective purchasing” resolutions that require universities
to effectively boycott companies that do business in Burma. Zum Beispiel, Chevron
retains a 28 percent stake in a natural gas pipeline in southern Burma, welches ist
notorious for the abuses associated with it. Also, imagine a network of student
groups in thirty locations across the U.S. using this footage from the ground to edit
a set of advocacy videos. Each would be targeted to local audiences such as univer-
sity chancellors and administrations, drawing on additional interviews they shoot
with respected figures in their own communities—creating not just one but thirty
advocacy videos that collectively create a nationwide impact. Using online collab-
orative editing tools, they could share the most successful examples, and remix and
re-use what works. They would then use these videos as part of their efforts to
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lobby university administrations to stop purchasing from any companies on the
so-called “dirty lists” of the entities that do business in Burma.
In turn, an engaged network could distribute the raw footage from inside
Burma, as well as finished videos, online via venues like the Hub, blogs, social net-
working sites, and cell phones. Footage could be distributed offline via DVDs with
screenings and physical distribution in order to reach target audiences, and to
mobilize them for local actions (lobbying and organizing in their own communi-
Krawatten). It could also move them to pressure national and international bodies such
as the U.S. Congress and the UN Security Council to support stronger action
against the regime in Burma.
A networked approach to media creation also has the potential to impact the
way the mainstream media covers human rights issues. During the protests in
Burma last year, news media were hungry for images and voices from inside the
country. The Hub provides a mechanism for responding to spikes in interest in
Burma by sharing a range of video clips produced on the ground showing both the
current situation as well as archival content. It also allows media to discover under-
cover and unexpected stories, footage, and sources—for example, the dimension of
regime brutality in eastern Burma that received limited attention during the
protest coverage, or a videographer who continues to find ways to document the
aftermath of the repression by the government or who secures an interview with a
monk smuggled out of hiding.
Ethics, Accountability, and Norms
Ethical questions are at the forefront of our approach as we move forward. Unser
goal is to ensure that the expanding use of video secures accountability: accounta-
bility most importantly for the perpetrators of violations, but also a growing cul-
ture of accountability and ethical action online that protects the victims and sur-
vivors of abuses, even while it targets the oppressors. The commercial sector
already wrestles with many of these issues we confront, such as users’ right to pri-
vacy, how to handle anonymity, security of data, copyright and fair use, and ethics
around use of imagery. Jedoch, these are only heightened by the nature of human
rights video and our commitment to protecting those put at risk.
For years, WITNESS has wrestled with another question: how to ensure that
people filmed in human rights contexts understand how the video will be used,
and the implications, both positive and negative.8 We have emphasized a model
that relies on helping people who film and are filmed to understand the worst-case
scenario consequences for their safety. Zum Beispiel, in Burma, what if the local
military commander sees the interview and seeks retribution on identified individ-
uals who spoke out? We encourage this approach to ensure that risks are clearly
understood and that “informed consent” is genuinely informed. Gleichzeitig,
the human rights culture emphasizes the integrity and dignity of the individual
survivor of abuse; its first principle is that every human being possesses “inherent
dignity,” a concept that runs through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson
A particular concern in the victim- and survivor-centered human rights model is
to avoid re-victimization either directly or indirectly, as can happen when an image
is distributed and exploited inappropriately. The most graphic issues—violent
attacks, or at the most extreme, sexual assault—are also the materials that most
easily translate into a loss of dignity, privacy, and agency, and to the potential for
re-victimization. We also consider bystanders or witnesses featured in videos to be
in positions of vulnerability and risk.
But these practices are difficult to promote even in the “professional” docu-
mentary world. Zum Beispiel, many documentary makers might make the claim of
public interest to justify blurring the lines around consent. These practices are
nearly impossible to sustain in an online participatory media culture of user-gen-
erated citizen media where filmers are not steeped in the professional cultures of
either human rights documentation or ethical documentary film-making. So we
need to find ways to support emerging norms in online culture that place a high-
er priority on the safety, privacy, dignity and security of the people filmed. Wir haben
taken a first step in this direction on the Hub by setting guidelines that flag certain
kinds of uploaded footage for review: anything that presents a clear risk to the peo-
ple filmed, includes graphic violence of a sexual nature, or features minors. A WIT-
NESS staff member then contacts the uploader to find out more about the circum-
stances of filming and the potential risk of exposure. We also provide extensive
resources for learning and understanding consent, safety and risk, and provide the
opportunity for other users to tag material that, Zum Beispiel, puts a minor at risk
or features inappropriate graphic violence. Eventually we hope that the communi-
ty online at the Hub will take the most active lead in monitoring content.
This past year we have seen one human rights crisis after another unfold via
online imagery. Beyond our own efforts, a broader effort within the human rights
and online video communities is required to establish new standards and prac-
tices. These would educate around, and reduce the downside of, the expanded
range of people engaged in participatory production and networked distribution
and advocacy. The Internet commentator Dan McQuillan has talked about “prop-
agating an online culture pervaded by a sense of fairness and justice” and suggests
“writing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into all Web 2.0 Terms of
Service.”9 The urgency of this normative work is clear if we think about the impli-
cations of increasing live event-casting from cell phones facilitated by technologies
like Flixwagon and Qik. These tools make it possible to broadcast directly from a
cell phone to a web page, visible either to the general public or within a password-
protected area. These technologies will have powerful positive implications for
sharing footage and engaging constituencies immediately. Gleichzeitig, Sie
increase the pressure on concerns about consent and security: once a video of vio-
lations is streamed instantaneously, no editorial or reviewing process on earth can
stop the material from being aired if safety risks arise.
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An Era of Promise and Participation
Now is a time of tremendous positive experimentation in the use of video for
human rights. It is a time of increased access to the tools for participation, und ein
moment to call for increased responsibility. It is also an era when it is increasing-
ly hard to deny the truth of what is happening: as we write, despite all the military
regime’s efforts, images are emerging from Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta showing the
devastating and deliberate post-cyclone neglect. And it is an era when that truth
must be linked to a responsibility to act. Our task is to ensure that the next gener-
ation of human rights video is not just about casual documentors and bystanders,
nor about compassion fatigue, but about meaningful action that ends abuses.
We envision with hope a world where human rights and social justice organi-
zations routinely use video to document and campaign, where citizens feel
empowered to use consumer technologies to fight the injustices they face, Und
where human rights abusers have fewer and fewer places to hide. We may enter a
world that no longer needs the technology transfer or even the technical training
that WITNESS currently provides to its partners. But it will be a world where it will
be more important than ever to understand and spread knowledge of how to use
moving image media strategically to effect change.
WITNESS can play a key role in this area working with the many other groups
that are joining us. Together we can enrich our collective capacity to respond effec-
tively and appropriately, both locally and internationally. To do this we intend to
build on, enhance, and innovate around and beyond our experience over the past
fifteen years. We will continue to ensure that we provide the tools and tactics that
human rights campaigners need to pursue targeted and strategic modes of advo-
cacy using video that hold governments and non-state entities accountable. As new
institutions like the Human Rights Council and the International Criminal Court
emerge, we need to ensure that they are open to the power of video to share local
Erfahrung. As groups other than governments become ever more important as
perpetrators of human rights violations, we need to ensure they are subject to pub-
lic scrutiny and pressure. Alongside this, we are committed to creating increased
impact using the expanding possibilities of networked video advocacy, and the
potential of online and mobile tools that engage communities of activism far
beyond what we have been able to imagine before. By creating and supporting the
Hub as an empowering space where others will experiment, share experiences, Und
Akt, we can enable a growing and dynamic human rights community that includes
more and more people worldwide.
Images and words can and do change emotions and attitudes, and shift policy,
particularly when they are shared within communities, before key audiences, Und
with publics who have the power to act. We have seen this in our work helping shift
legislation in the United States around juvenile justice, challenging injustice and
torture in Mexico, bringing images from inside Burma in front of opinion leaders
worldwide to secure action and aid, reinvigorating policies in Brazil, supporting
community-based policies for persons with mental disabilities in Europe, and cre-
Innovationen / Frühling 2008
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Gabriel, Caldwell, Federlein, Gregory, and Wolfson
ating debate in communities and within international institutions around child
soldiers in the Congo. We have seen it in the power of cell phone video shot inside
Burma, and in Egyptian prisons10 to shatter government assumptions about their
ability to control the world’s and their people’s knowledge of their behavior. Wir
know video can create change. Moving images do, in fact, “move” people.
1. This section was co-authored with Sara Federlein, WITNESS’ development manager of more than
fünf Jahre. Much of this section is drawn from WITNESS’s chapter in The New Humanitarians:
Inspiration, Innovations and Blueprints for Visionaries, edited by Chris E. Stout.
2. This term was coined by Jamais Cascio, in “The Rise of the Participatory Panopticon,” May 4,
2005, accessed at http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/002651.html, on January 5, 2008.
3. http://www.unsubscribe-me.org/index.php.
4. See Center for Social Media report, “Big Dreams, Small Screens: Online Video for Public
bei
Jessica Clark, Marsch
and Action,”
zugegriffen
2007,
von
Knowledge
5.
Sehen
the Transmission
collective
“Why NOT use YouTube?”
zugegriffen
bei
6. Howard Rheingold, “Using Participatory Media and Public Voice to Encourage Civic
Engagement” in Civic Life Online: Learning How Digital Media Can Engage Youth (S. 97-118).
Ed. W. Lance Bennett. Published in The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on
Digital Media and Learning 2007. MIT Press Journals.
7. See Marty Kearns, ‘Network-centric Advocacy,’ accessed at http://activist.blogs.com/networkcen-
tricadvocacypaper.pdf on April 28, 2008 and Marty Kearns, “The Advocacy Side of Network-
Centric Advocacy: Action of Delivering an Argument,” accessed at
8. Not coincidentally the longest chapter in our recent Video for Change book is on safety and secu-
rity.
9. Dan McQuillan, “Can Social Technology help prevent Genocide?” on Internet Artizans,
Februar 6, 2008, accessed at
2008.
10. Sehen, Zum Beispiel, "Ägypten: Bloggers open the door to police brutality debate,” accessed at
60
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