Cameras Everywhere Leadership Initiative

In a world where video is an increasingly ubiquitous tool for human rights documentation and advocacy, whether by citizens or human rights defenders, WITNESS recognizes a need to ensure that people turning to video for human rights use it as effectively, safely and ethically as possible.

Taking advantage of our unique position at the intersection of human rights, media and technology, our Cameras Everywhere Leadership Initiative seeks to address the challenges and opportunities that arise from this new ecosystem of creation and distribution.

Key questions driving this initiative include:

• As more people film and take a stand on camera against human rights violations, how can we protect victims and witnesses to ensure informed consent as much as possible?
• As more footage circulates from human rights crises around the world, how does powerful footage reach audiences in a way that makes sense and moves them to action?
• How can we trust the authenticity of the footage, if taken by a non-traditional source?

We have begun to implement a multi-pronged strategy focused on the areas of safety, security, consent and privacy; authentication; and storytelling in an environment saturated with audio-visual content.

Target Audiences

Grassroots movements and human rights organizations using video remain at the heart of our work. However, we know - through conversations and collaborations with partners, donors, activists, technologists and others - that the media, policy and technology sectors set many of the parameters driving the video-for-change field. And they therefore set many of the boundaries for how these movements and organizations can operate. They influence and shape the generally accepted standards, legal structures and technological options for the creation, sharing and distribution of human rights video.

Activities of the Initiative

We are engaging these key audiences/actors through a variety of activities. More »