WITNESS brings together local and regional organizations to discuss their experience using video for social justice and human rights in Africa’s Great Lakes region.
WITNESS Bukeni Waruzi spent the month traveling the globe to train activists on how to interview survivors of gender-based violence.
Senior Program Manager Bukeni Waruzi first met Zimbabwean human rights defender Kuda Chitsike at a WITNESS video advocacy training in South Africa in 2008. As a lawyer with The Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU), an independent institute in Zimbabwe, Kuda was eager to learn how RAU could turn their lengthy written reports on politically motivated gender-based violence into videos to pressure citizens to action. This meeting was the beginning of a multi-year partnership between WITNESS and RAU. Since 2000, sexual violence has been used as a weapon by a number of Zimbabwean political parties to repress political dissent, intimidate political opponents and incur psychological damage. While working together RAU and WITNESS created a number of video advocacy pieces featuring the stories of survivors of physical and sexual violence. For each video, WITNESS worked with Kuda and her team to produce a Video Action Plan, a process designed to help activists think through messaging, how to reach their target audience and how to tell the story most effectively. RAU and WITNESS took great precaution and care to ensure the safety of the survivors filmed in the project. They went through a rigorous process of obtaining informed consent, ensuring that participants fully
In the long running civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), children as young as eight years old were used as soldiers. Congolese activist Bukeni Waruzi filmed the children’s stories, and with WITNESS’ support produced two videos. These videos were part of a 14-year struggle to ensure rights and rehabilitation of child soldiers in DRC. Together we pressured the International Criminal Court (ICC) to bring charges against Thomas Lubanga, a well-known Congolese warlord. The videos co-produced by Bukeni and WITNESS were used to sensitize the court to the experiences of children recruited for warfare. On March 14, 2012, the ICC found Lubanga guilty of the war crime of using children in armed conflict. This was the first-ever ICC verdict. Video footage played a role at the trial. “We were unable to dispute the visual images or deny the sound,” said Honorable Mr. Justice Fulford, ICC Presiding Judge, “the evidences presented to us were credible and outstanding.” After partnering with WITNESS for several years, Bukeni spent seven years working for WITNESS leading our programs in Africa & the Middle East. He now serves as a member of our Advisory Board. Watch more of Bukeni’s story: Image: Still from A Duty to Protect: Justice for Child