For immediate release
October 29, 2004
More than 40 international human rights activists will meet near Boston on November 5-7, to discuss how to use technology — from text messaging to satellite communication, data encryption, and blogs — to prevent wrongdoings and collect evidence of abuses.
Former UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Bertrand Ramcharan, an international expert and leader on the international law and practice of human rights, will deliver the keynote address.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and other international and regional human rights organizations will discuss their technology innovations. Activists will be trained on using software such as Martus, a secure, easy-to-use encryption tool for human rights groups, and how to use video as a powerful tool to document abuses. Award-wining technology innovators such as Witness and Benetech will provide hands-on sessions.
Katitza Rodríguez, a human rights lawyer and activist from Peru, notes: “As human rights workers we need a community of technical support, of ideas and tools to learn from each other. Our ability to detect patterns of abuse, for example, depends on data being shared in a network of activists. And our data needs to be safe – from government raids just as much as from cockroaches.”
The “Effective Use of ICTs for Defending and Promoting Human Rights” colloquium will result in a ‘how-to’ guide of innovative uses of tech tools for human rights organizations and a CD of tools that will be freely available to activists around the globe.
HREA and Aspiration are co-sponsors of the event.