In August 2023, WITNESS hosted in Bogotá, Colombia, over 25 journalists, fact-checkers, technologists, policy advocates, creators, human rights defenders and community activists from all of South America and Mexico. In our two-day workshop, we discussed threats and opportunities that generative AI and synthetic media bring to audiovisual witnessing, identifying and prioritizing collective responses that can have a positive impact in the information landscape. This workshop is part of ongoing efforts at WITNESS to engage with communities that conduct crucial human rights work, to ensure that th ..read more

Read WITNESS’ Statement. This post is also available in Arabic. A communications blackout plunged millions of Gazans, including civilians, journalists, paramedic teams and aid agencies, in an information vacuum from October 27 to midday October 29 when connectivity was partially restored. Today, we stand in a moment fraught with the gravest of risks for further human rights violations and tragedy. As we confront this unprecedented crisis, the call for immediate, community-driven, collective action takes on an urgency like never before. The imperative to rally for human rights, transparency, an ..read more

Read the English version here. Dengan sokongan dari ahli WITNESS ASIA-PACIFIC. Di Malaysia, sekumpulan wanita Orang Asli telah dengan kuat memperjuang untuk memperkasakan perwakilan wanita Orang Asli dalam masyarakat Malaysia. Sebagai kumpulan minoriti di Malaysia, mereka sering menghadapi rampasan dan pencerobohan tanah adat, kemerosotan mata pencarian, penyisihan politik dan sosial, jurang ekonomi dan pendidikan serta akses kepada perkhidmatan kesihatan, yang menjejaskan kesejahteraan mereka. Wanita Orang Asli mengalami pelbagai lapisan cabaran dan halangan ketika memperjuangkan hak mereka ..read more

Written by shirin anlen and Raquel Vazquez Llorente WITNESS is driven by a deep belief in the power of audiovisual technologies to protect and defend human rights. Alongside our ongoing work to ground our understanding of AI and synthetic media harms in the realities faced by communities at the frontlines of mis- and disinformation, we recognize the potential of using generative AI and synthetic media tools (“AI tools”) to support human rights advocacy and social critique–but only with appropriate caution and ethical considerations.  Our Technology Threats and Opportunities Team is explor ..read more

Baca versi Bahasa Indonesia di sini.  Her name is Sukinah. She belongs to the Samin Indigenous group of Indonesia, also known as the Sedulur Sikep community. When others sold their Kendeng lands in Central Java to a cement corporation, Sukinah chose differently. She decided to stay. Sukinah now enjoys a 22 million rupiah maize harvest and free flow water throughout the year. Sukinah was among the nine Kendeng women who protested the building of a cement factory in front of the presidential palace in Jakarta precisely six years ago. They resisted by placing cement-coated feet in square-sha ..read more

Read the English version here. Namanya Sukinah. Dia termasuk dalam masyarakat Adat Samin, yang juga dikenal sebagai komunitas Sedulur Sikep. Ketika orang lain menjual tanah mereka di wilayah Kendeng yang berlokasi Jawa Tengah ke perusahaan semen, Sukinah memilih jalan lain. Dia memutuskan untuk tetap tinggal di kediaman dan tanah miliknya. Sukinah kini bisa menikmati panen jagung senilai 22 juta Rupiah dan aliran air gratis sepanjang tahun. Sukinah termasuk satu di antara sembilan perempuan Kendeng yang memprotes berdirinya pabrik semen di depan istana presiden di Jakarta tepat enam tahun lalu ..read more

La Sandía Digital and WITNESS created a methodology to offer guidance on creating a participatory strategic communication plan for strengthening land defense, which is based on key analogies that explain the stages of our work: lunar phases and the seeding process. Background story: our first gathering to share knowledge and create methodologies In 2018, WITNESS joined La Sandía Digital in a participatory assessment of communication for land defense in Mexico. For this exercise, we invited movement actors, human rights defenders, journalists and organizations from Chiapas, Veracruz, Puebla, Oa ..read more

The biggest Indigenous gathering in Brazil took place in the last week of April this year. Acampamento Terra Livre (ATL or ‘Free Land Camp’) had as its theme “The Indigenous future is today – without land demarcation, there is no democracy!”. Through collaborative communication, Indigenous collectives denounced abuses and informed others about their struggle and ways of resistance. The event was also attended by human rights defenders, politicians and activists, such as the WITNESS Brazil and USA teams, who participated in the collaborative coverage and held workshops there.   Demonstrati ..read more

Ditulis oleh Dalila Mujagic dan Meghana Bahar. Blog ini adalah hasil terjemahan dari versi asli berbahasa Inggris.  Tulisan ini didedikasikan untuk leluhur kita, bumi, semesta dan segala isinya, yang untuk kita selalu mengingat yang memberi kehidupan. Dengan memberi hormat kepada leluhur, kita juga memberi hormat kepada ibu bumi.  WITNESS meluncurkan panduan terbaru ‘Video sebagai Alat Bukti Pertahanan Lingkungan‘, yang berupaya membantu masyarakat yang terkena dampak pembangunan dan industri secara meluas. Panduan ini dipakai sebagai strategi  mengumpulkan dokumentasi video dan ..read more

Written by Raquel Vazquez Llorente, Jacobo Castellanos, and Nkem Agunwa. In March 2023, WITNESS hosted in Nairobi, Kenya, over 20 journalists, fact-checkers, technologists, policy advocates, creators, human rights defenders and community activists from six African countries: Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria and Zambia. In our two-day workshop, we discussed threats and opportunities that generative AI and synthetic media bring to audiovisual witnessing, identifying and prioritising collective responses that can have a positive impact in the information landscape. This workshop i ..read more