Media / Information systems

Zamir/Women

Lrubenstein — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:54:11 -0500

Zenska Infoteka is a women’s information and documentation center that was established in Zagreb in 1992 during the war in former Yugoslavia with the goal of helping women who had been exposed to violence and sexual assault during the fighting. The primary aim was to overcome obstacles of communication imposed by the war, and to help local grassroots groups establish international links.

During the conflict in the former Yugoslavia, communications links across former republics and with the outside world were severed. Zenska Infoteka therefore created an electronic news group for women, many of whom had already been working together on peace, humanitarian, and other related issues when the war started, and who had experienced a sudden break in communication between these groups, due to a suspicion towards other groups as a result of nationalistic propaganda. The establishment of a communications network was thus welcomed and many relationships were established or re-established. The aim with the network was to try to organize and give immediate help to women. One tactic involved turning international attention to the mass rapes that occurred in Bosnia and Herzegovina, by using the network to send out messages from women activists and eyewitnesses calling for international action and protests against the atrocities. In addition, at the initiative of Zenska Infoteka, an electronic newsgroup/conference was opened under the name of ZaMir/Women, and each month electronic conferences were held in local languages where women could discuss ideas, tactics, and experiences. At its peak in 1997, more than a thousand messages were posted.

Since the war has ended, Zenska Infoteka has changed its approach. Now, it focuses on preservation of knowledge about women's history and women's movements in Croatia, and also on promoting and supporting women's groups and individual women working to achieve equality. This is done through a database, a library, and publishing of books and articles related to women’s issues, such as women in war and politics, and also by organizing conferences and training seminars for women and women’s organizations.

Zenska Infoteka has been very successful in turning international attention to the atrocities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and also at providing people in the former Yugoslavia with information about the rest of the world. A great example of this was in 1995 during the United Nations General World Conference on the Status of Women held in Beijing. Normally, news of the conference would not have reached the former Yugoslavian states, but thanks to Zenska Infoteka news traveled through e-mail and the Internet to women’s groups as well as individual women, thus keeping people updated on the conference.

The case of Zenska Infoteka shows that this form of communication can be very useful during times of war, and the tactics used could perhaps be more easily implemented during times of peace in areas where communication networks are not used to their full capacity.

Utilizing an information specialist to support the information needs of human rights advocates

Lrubenstein — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:56:54 -0500

The Human Rights Centre at the University of Sarajevo focuses on improving access to information among human rights advocates. They built a strong information system and central role for an information specialist or librarian. The utilization of this information system and information specialist’s skills allowed other staff to better, and more productively, focus on their core programmatic missions.

Establishing a library or documentation unit within human rights organizations can facilitate the flow of information, manage confidential documents, chronicle the history of the organization, and improve day-to-day operations. Key elements of this tactic include the involvement of a skilled librarian or information specialist, an organized physical space, a core collection of materials, and appropriate software and other information technology.

Human rights librarians have particular skills to offer a human rights organization. They have sufficient knowledge in the field of human rights information and documentation as well as technology. The role of the librarian is to acquire and evaluate materials in relation to the core mission of the organization, organize the materials for efficient use, and disseminate the materials within the organization. This last role involves working closely with staff to sort and prioritize information.

In addition to the involvement of a qualified human rights librarian, it is important to have sufficient space to organize materials and provide for interaction between staff and the librarian. At a minimum, a documentation center includes space for the librarian’s office needs, including a networked computer, as well as shelving and file units to organize materials. The core collection of books and other resources depends on the mission and scale of the organization. In general, an organization will try to include information essential to its present and future programs.

Finally, an efficient documentation center will have appropriate software and an internet connection to allow the librarian to freely access information. In order to effectively access information and monitor use of information within the organization, the librarian should minimally have software that allows for cataloguing, classification, indexing and generating bibliographies.

The experience of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Sarajevo demonstrates that institutional strengthening tactics applied inside an organization improve the way human rights practitioners do their work and what they can do. Organizations that use their resources effectively can more effectively advance human rights work. The Human Rights Centre works nationally and internationally in cooperation with similar institutes to contribute to the realization of human rights through information and documentation. Although the Human Rights Centre is now a fairly large and relatively well-funded organization, nearly any group doing human rights work could apply this organizational strengthening tactic.

Creating a written history based on oral testimony to help people in isolated communities understand the full extent of the war

Lrubenstein — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:38:34 -0500

As part of the on-going REMHI (Recovery of Historical Memory) Project, several dioceses of the Catholic Church in Guatemala mobilized their own members to collect testimonies from victims of state violence. These testimonies were compiled in a report to disseminate and return that history to the affected communities and individuals.

During Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, nearly 200,000 people were killed, disappeared or suffered other human rights abuses primarily by state security forces. The REMHI Project began in 1994, one year before the 1995 Peace Accords, as an initiative of the Human Rights Office of the Archbishop of Guatemala, under the leadership of Archbishop Juan Gerardi. While a truth commission had been outlined as part of an earlier Peace Accord, the commission had not been established and the church felt that it would not be able to meet expectations due to the extreme divisions and the degree of violence suffered by the society.

Therefore, REMHI decided to use the structure of the church and the enormous network of people associated with it to open a space for dialogue on the violence and to facilitate the work of a future truth commission. The church publicized the project through posters, flyers and radio spots. Each participating parish nominated two parishioners as ‘facilitators of reconciliation.’ REMHI’s approach has differed from other reconciliation efforts in its grassroots mobilization of individuals, especially victims of the violence who often served as facilitators. All across the country, close to 800 facilitators collected testimonies from people who had suffered violence, torture or the loss of a family member. Through the project they collected and analyzed 5,000 to 7,000 interviews. The collection of testimonials was carried out at great risk to the church and members involved since violence was still occurring.

Analysis of the testimonies demonstrated state security forces were responsible for most of the human rights abuses during the war. A final report, “Guatemala: Never Again” was released in four volumes and presented to the public on April 24, 1998. Tragically, Archbishop Gerardi was assassinated two days after the report was released; military personnel were later convicted for his death.

Despite the Archbishop’s death, many of the same facilitators have continued the project. They presented the participating communities with the results of the project, which helped place the individuals and communities experiences in a historical and national context. When translations are available in local languages, participants are given copies of a popularized version of the report, which is meant to be read aloud in group discussion. From the report, they learn that what happened to them was not their fault and that it happened to many people throughout the country. The facilitators also accompanied the communities in their reconciliation efforts, working to contribute to the construction of a culture of peace by promoting nonviolent methods to resolve conflicts in the communities. This process occurred in conjunction with the ongoing exhumations and reburial of victims’ remains, which form an important part of the healing process in Maya culture. Lastly, when the Guatemalan Truth Commission (the Commission for Historical Clarification) was established REMHI’s work contributed to the commission by supporting witnesses, the participation of community organizations and providing testimony

History is traditionally written by those in power. Victims of abuse – whether they are poor communities or civilians caught in the middle of a civil war – rarely have their say, even after the abuse has ended. In this next tactic, a group in Guatemala created a way to bring isolated communities ravaged by the war into the process of writing the history of that war. Concretely, the outcome of this process is a report, but the creation of this report began a process of reconciliation at the local level and gave a voice to people who otherwise would have had one.

REMHI’s tactic could be used in other countries to help facilitate or contribute to the work of a truth commission. Additionally, this tactic could be used in other situations where there is not a truth commission or where those most affected by human rights abuses cannot participate in processes like truth commissions and litigation.

In Guatemala this tactic was effective largely because of the extensive institutional structure and reach of the Catholic Church. Without a pre-existing, trusted network it would be difficult to gather personal stories on this scale. Funding is also necessary to carry out this tactic. In Guatemala, financial resources were limited and work was distributed among the individual dioceses.

Furthermore, the risks that can exist by using this tactic need to be taken into account. The project of REMHI generated hostility from the army and paramilitaries, especially given that many of the human rights violators continue in positions of authority in the army and government, and they have responded with threats and even assassinations of those associated with the project.

Using Online Rural News to Connect Village Society

Lrubenstein — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:58:00 -0500

Amader Gramer Khobor is a first-of-its-kind online rural news service that covers daily happenings in village society, as no online news service in Bangladesh practices rural journalism with the provisions of time-to-time updating in the same day. Amader Gramer Khobor, part of Amader Gram, which means “Our Village,” is unique and effective because it involves the greater community of villagers in its news mechanism, where the villagers can take part both as readers and news workers.

At the moment, there is no online news service in Bangladesh that gives due importance to the daily happenings in village society. The daily newspapers in Bangladesh are published through print media from the capital city, which focuses mainly on national and international news. In the current context therefore, village society is not given enough time, priority, and allocation of news it deserves.

Amader Gramer Khobor was born out of this context to rectify this lack of rural news coverage in Bangladesh. Amader Gramer Khobor involves the greater community by targeting members of village society to participate as readers and as news reporters. The participants are selected from villages that have had previous involvement or are still involved in other Amader Gram’s projects, i.e. rural development and educational projects. Examples of individuals involved in news reporting include local youths, unemployed village members, school-dropout girls, local pressmen, and any other interested persons in village society. These news workers are selected with the idea that each of them will cover the village from which he/she is from. The rationale behind this is that the news worker has familiarity with his/her own society. In addition, it is easier for the news worker to get the stories, interview other villagers informally, and gather information. The news workers are provided with some orientation and training skills on the simple techniques of reporting, editing, data analysis, and producing publications in various forms. In their villages, these individuals report on events they have researched or been informed on by other community members.

The news online service is updated daily and covers multi-dimensional issues pertaining to village society, for example market price, childbirth, death, agricultural information, disaster preparedness, success and failure stories, accidents, achievements, development, history, culture, and other aspects affecting village life. The steps involved to publish the daily news and stories involve the news worker collecting and writing the story, sending it to the project’s principal office, the story being edited, the webmaster uploading the information online, and the Central News Hub producing it online. Local readers then reproduce this online edition into printing form at the local hub/centers available at each village and put it on display for the rest of the villagers to look at. Villagers, in other words, take part in this online rural news service as readers and news workers.

Amader Gramer Khobor is a very new initiative of Amader Gram and a first-of-its-kind online rural news in Bangladesh. Currently, the organizational staff is closely monitoring and providing supervision to ensure the success of the online rural news. Based on community feedbacks and other positive responses, Amader Gramer Khobor has been said to help connect village society, which in the current context of news media has not been given due representation. According to an Amader Gram staff, there are a good number of people in Bangladesh who are sending their blessing to this project. Some of the constraints that Amader Gramer Khobor is facing include a limited target group, where the present readers include group members of Amader Gram, local youth, and few other literate individuals in the village. These individuals though can serve as rapporteurs to villagers unable to read.

In thinking about implementing this tactic of using online rural news services to connect under-represented rural areas, the following is important to consider for the success of the tactic:

involvement of village members,
funding, and
availability of computers to receive the bulletins in each village targeted.

In addition, it is important to know that the following challenges that may be encountered:

opposition from urban elites who are practicing traditional journalism,
language and illiteracy barriers,
funding and availability of communications tools, and
reliance on village members to play an active role.

Areas of transferability for this tactic include rural areas in countries like Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, India, and Nepal. In addition, targeted groups could include indigenous people, ethnic minorities, and people living in distant locations within the country.

Completed July 23, 2003.

Training minorities to produce and direct community-based television programming to break down prejudices

ahorwart — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:16:02 -0500

Based in Hungary and Romania, the Black Box Foundation works to improve attitudes towards the Roma minority by helping them produce television programs for local channels. The Foundation creates production teams, trains them in video production, secures airtime, and sees that programs are exchanged between teams.

The Roma minority is the primary subject of prejudice in Hungary and Romania. The general public’s overwhelmingly negative attitude toward the Roma is strengthened by the mass media’s portrayal of them in a context of poverty and criminality, and their inability to access the media has effectively left them without a voice in which to address their image in the majority culture.

To address the public’s lack of knowledge about Roma culture and daily life, in 1997 the Black Box Foundation began a project to train people in television production and to help them acquire airtime in which to inform local viewers, both Roma and non-Roma, about issues affecting their community.

The Foundation solicits applications, and from the chosen applicants creates five-person teams. As the teams are meant to be models of cross-ethnic cooperation, members are Hungarian, Roma, and Romanian. Foundation staff members first work to build trusting relationships with and among team members, discussing individual viewpoints, and addressing the sensitive issues that will be brought up in the program. Teams then participate in a training program in Budapest where, in addition learning the fundamentals of television production, they are able to consult with experts on minority issues.

During the last three days of training, teams produce their first films. They are then provided with a camera, lights, microphones, and other necessary equipment, which they use to produce their own monthly programs at local television stations. Team members act as writers, camerapersons, reporters, directors, editors, and presenters of the programs. The Black Box Foundation supervises and regularly monitors the project for six months following training. The Foundation negotiates with local broadcast companies to secure regular airtime for monthly television programs; production teams, however, work independently and are required to find their own resources in their respective communities. Completed programs are broadcast at the crew's local television stations, and are also exchanged between the teams of each country.

The Black Box Foundation has trained approximately 150 people in twelve locations in both Hungary and Romania. Outcomes among the production teams have varied. A number of teams still broadcast regularly on local television, and members of one crew were hired by a local station. Although other teams no longer broadcast on their television stations, they now use their skills and equipment to record the activities of their human rights organizations.

Although it involves a long and complicated process, the program has helped change the way minorities are viewed and treated in the region, reducing ethnic tensions and prejudices. It has also helped to show how human rights activists, with training in only the most basic video skills, may use television as a powerful medium for exploring and promoting discussion of human rights issues.

Edited 16 February 2003

Training grassroots human rights groups in video and communications technology

ahorwart — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:09:08 -0500

WITNESS empowers human rights organizations around the world to incorporate video as an advocacy tool in their work. Rooted in the power of personal testimonies and in the principle that a picture is worth a thousand words, WITNESS and its partners’ videos have been used

as evidence in legal proceedings;
to corroborate allegations of human rights violations;
to complement written reports to international/regional organizations that provide a counterweight to official versions of a country’s human rights performance;
to stimulate grassroots education and mobilization;
to provide information for news broadcasts;
to promote human rights via the internet; and
to produce documentaries for broadcast on television worldwide, among others uses.

Founded in 1992, WITNESS has created partnerships with more than 150 groups in 50 countries on a variety of issues, ranging from the “social cleansing” of street children in Central America and sexual abuse of women/girls during Sierra Leone’s civil war to sweatshops in the United States and the plight of people displaced in Burma.

WITNESS chooses partners who seek to build a long-term capacity to use video effectively and also seeks specific campaign opportunities where video can tip the balance between success and failure. Once a partnership is established, WITNESS provides the group with video equipment and training, then follows up with workshops in camera techniques, intensive instruction in using video for human rights work, systemic evaluation of video footage, post-production assistance and constructive feedback to create powerful documentaries.

WITNESS and its partners then create video advocacy campaigns around these videos. These campaigns are built around strategies with many components, including broadcast and distribution platforms, collaboration with other organizations and networks, targeted screenings before key audiences and opportunities for individual viewers to take action. These campaigns may be as targeted as using video to influence a small group of key decision-makers or as broad as trying to mobilize youth around a particular issue. Footage is also kept in the WITNESS Archive, where it is available as a unique resource of human rights information to the global community.

WITNESS’s recognizes that depending on the local context, a human rights advocate may be protected or endangered by using a camera.. WITNESS uses the experience of its staff and partners to help others create policies that are safe and appropriate for their situations. They also stress the importance of the relationship of trust between the person filming and the person being filmed, including a clear explanation of the risks and benefits of speaking to a camera.

One example of a strategic and savvy use of video advocacy is WITNESS's work with Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) to document the deplorable conditions in a Paraguayan psychiatric hospital.

“Julio and Jorge were two adolescent boys being kept in the hospital along with 458 other people – naked, in bare cells without access to bathrooms. The cells reeked of urine and excrement and the walls were smeared with feces. The boys spent approximately four hours every other day in an outdoor pen, littered with garbage and broken glass.

In December 2003, MDRI filed an emergency petition before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights (IACHR) at the Organization of American States (OAS), asking the IACHR to intervene on behalf of the boys, as well as the others in the hospital.

Along with a legal brief, MDRI submitted a video that they had shot and edited with WITNESS. The video was structured according to the specific articles set forth in several international human rights instruments to which Paraguay is bound. Using images that clearly demonstrate how Paraguay had failed to fulfill its obligations, the video put a human face on the issue. The video was specifically presented within a human rights framework to argue that these patients are legally entitled to a minimum standard of living. This led the IACHR to establish jurisprudence on the rights of those in mental health facilities, a legal precedent that can now be used in other countries in the region.

In December 2003, for the first time, the IACHR approved urgent measures to protect the lives and physical integrity of those in psychiatric institutions. MDRI and WITNESS subsequently brought the issue to the general public by streaming the video over their web sites and by collaborating with CNN en Espanol on a follow-up story. The president of Paraguay and the minister of health personally visited the hospital, after which the hospital director was fired and a commission was formed to investigate the issue.

By reaching a broader group of people, MDRI and WITNESS garnered further support for change By exposing these conditions to a broader public, they called attention to the situation of mental health facilities in Paraguay, and the press played a pivotal role in the unfolding of events that brought about significant changes.

Although Julio and Jorge’s ward is still in the process of being renovated as this book goes to press, they have access to showers and clothes, as well as 24-hour nurses. The Paraguayan Health Ministry is working with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to bring conditions up to the most basic standards of human rights.

The collaboration between WITNESS and MDRI has now produced system-changing results, but the challenge lies ahead, in ensuring that human rights advocates pick up the momentum created by the video and follow up on the case to ensure that conditions are improved for all psychiatric facilities in Paraguay. While this case has relied upon strong visual evidence of a violation, it is also important to note that WITNESS partners have successfully used video without relying upon filming such graphic images. For instance, many have created powerful videos by collecting testimonies and telling the stories of those most directly affected, which can have just as a powerful impact within a human rights campaign”

Training young people to monitor human rights.

ahorwart — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:34:21 -0500

Since 2000, the Human Rights Observatories Network has worked with youth groups in various regions of Brazil, inspiring them to learn about human rights and to learn how to report on and to monitor their communities’ access to rights.

The Center of Violence Studies, an interdisciplinary academic center of Sao Paulo University, monitors and studies the increase of urban violence, whose main victims are poor young people between the ages of 15 and 25. In addition to violence, there is increasing evidence that the denial of economic and social rights may contribute to repeated violations of civil and political rights. While the Center has produced many reports about the conditions of Human Rights in Brazil, it had become clear that the information and debate produced did not reach the communities most affected by violence and poverty. Thus the Center developed the Human Rights Observatories Network in an effort to involve young people as observers and writers of life’s condition in their communities, thus strengthening the discussion of human rights in those previously unreachable areas.

There are three groups of participants in the Network. The Observers are young people from age 17 to 25 (the period during which the greatest numbers of serious human rights violations are suffered). To be chosen, they must live in the area being studied and must be involved in community activities. Because most of their tasks will involve reading and writing, they must enjoy these activities. The Monitors are university students of human sciences (e.g., sociology, psychology, history, anthropology, etc). The Monitors are in charge of groups of Observers, leading debates and helping them gather and organize their information. The Coordinators have graduated from college and must have experience in research and education. They work directly with both groups- discussing experiences and the produced material with the Observers and evaluating the processes with the Monitors.

There are six recommended areas for observation to address human rights in everyday life: violence, discrimination, education, health, work and income, and culture and leisure. In general terms, the aspects to be observed in each thematic area are: cases of rights violations experienced by local residents; positive examples or good practices in promoting human rights; local impact of public policies to promote the right in question. In the experience of the Network, the human rights observations always come from the young people’s everyday experiences. During periods of group discussion, they relate these experiences to a certain topic, later transforming the dialogue and discovery into texts. The texts are sent to another Observatory group which reads and discusses the narrated experience and the relations made with the human rights topics. This second group then writes a letter back to the one which wrote the text, commenting on their impressions. In this process of multiple discussions, not only are the information raising and the reports being improved, but so are the young people’s conceptions of human rights.

The Network attempts to strengthen the cooperation between the different groups of civil society and to encourage them to participate in the elaboration and implementation of public policy, as well as improving its relation to human rights. As a part of the Network, all the participants in the project discuss the information gathered by various Observers. In these exchanges, they share possible local measures and try to find alternatives to combating the violence. Creating communal spaces for these discussions encourages the involvement of young people in community associations, and helps to reduce human rights violations by rebuilding young people’s social identity.

There are two different publications which have sprung from this project. The Citizens’ Report is a formal report which is put together by all three groups. It contains information from the Observers and Monitors, as well as comments from experts who have read the contributions written by the young people. LUPA is a news magazine by and about the Observers. It is much more informal than the Report, and it is aimed at the youth audience in the communities involved in the work.

Started as a project in the metropolitan region of Sao Paulo, the Network has spread its program into five other metropolitan areas of Brazil and into one rural area. Since 2002, the project is also being replicated in Caracas, Venezuela. There are some limits to this project, for it is not easy to observe and talk about the problems contained in one’s proper reality. In addition, the work demands agreement between the different groups’ interests (between the universities, the community associations, and the young people). While universities sometimes produce research which cannot be put immediately into practice, practice is often the principal focus of those directly involved in the communities. To avoid frustration, it is fundamental to bring these different interests together to clarify from the start the projects’ objectives.

This paper was completed on June 6, 2005.

Building collaborative partnerships to develop a Local Housing Board

ahorwart — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 15:06:15 -0500

A group of Non-Government Organizations in Cebu City bonded together and created an alliance which formed the Task Force Tawhanong Pagpuyo (TFT) to respond to the growing numbers of victims who experienced evictions and demolitions of their houses. This problem resulted from the onset of globalization and the government’s development framework which often violated urban poor communities’ rights to housing.

In Cebu City, more than 70% of the population in Cebu City is urban poor – they are unemployed or underemployed, have no land or security of tenure, and live in houses made-up of improvised and light materials. Despite the already inhumane conditions the urban poor experience, the government was demolishing their houses without an arranged relocation site.

The government development programs were designed and prepared without consultation and participation by the people. The program, when implemented, drove away urban poor from their homes. Involvement of community members and urban poor leaders in development planning enable the urban poor to voice their concerns directly to government agencies. As a result, the government agencies can develop solutions tailored to a community’s needs. This process not only realizes immediate gains in the right to housing, but also offers a training ground for urban poor leaders to participate in governance by holding government leaders accountable in protecting people’s right to housing.

Key steps in promoting a community development plan included the creation of local development councils and special bodies to involve people in the development planning process, monitoring, implementation, and the evaluation of the plan. Women were organized towards participation in local governance and pressuring Local Government Units to implement gender and development programs as mandated by law. Finally, the Local Housing Board was created to ensure the right to housing.

The TFT, through a conference, gathered urban poor leaders and identified specific issues. To support its claims and proposed alternatives, case studies were developed and research conducted. These were presented to the local government units and shelter agencies involved. An education and information campaign was conducted in various communities of participating urban poor organizations as well as with judges who issue the demolition and eviction orders.

With pressure mounted through a series of rallies and mobilizations, a local housing board was created that included representatives from the urban poor sector and NGOs assisting the urban poor. The local housing board prepared a comprehensive shelter plan for Cebu City. As a result of the effort, urban poor communities were provided the basic services they need. Demolitions and evictions cases in publicly owned lots were minimized and those subjected to demolitions and evictions were given relocation sites. As a result of working with the judges, a judge will now coordinate with the Local Housing Board before issuing an order for eviction involving privately owned lots. This makes it possible for the Local Housing Board to ensure compliance in cases of demolitions and evictions.

Human rights violations happen in many communities and areas where people are not aware of their rights. Often, marginalized sectors like the urban poor, lack access to justice and are deprived of meaningful participation in governance as well as plans for the development process of the country. Participation, training and empowerment of local leaders are key aspects in achieving a sustainable effort in community organizing processes.

Using text-messaging to build issue awareness, attract new constituencies and mobilize people for action

ahorwart — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:11:07 -0500

Using text-messaging to build issue awareness, attract new constituencies and mobilize people for action
Amnesty International, the Netherlands

Amnesty International-the Netherlands recognized the power and potential of new text-messaging technology (SMS). The organization used it to attract new members (especially young people), build awareness of the campaign against torture and encourage people to respond quickly to urgent action appeals. About 520 new members joined as a direct result of the SMS campaign and over 5,000 more responded to the SMS urgent action appeals.

In the first years of Amnesty’s Urgent Action Network, the quickest way to protest was by airmail and telex. After a few years, the fax was introduced. And after many more years, e-mail was the best and quickest way. The SMS technique was originally developed in 2001, within the framework of Amnesty International's Campaign Against Torture. When immediate action was required to protect someone from being tortured, the Dutch section of Amnesty International sent out an SMS (Small Message Service) to the mobile phones of thousands of participants. Participants, those who have taken a voluntary and free subscription to the SMS campaign network, responded to the appeal. Within hours, Amnesty International collected many thousands of protests “signatures” against a case of torture, or threat of torture. The organization then forwarded these protests by fax or e-mail to the authorities.

AI—Netherlands introduced the technique on the most popular Saturday night television program with viewers reaching 2.5 million people who watch the program. AI—Netherlands explained the SMS actions along with a man from Tunisia who was once the subject and beneficiary of an AI Urgent Action. People were informed that the text of an Urgent Action is summarized in just 160 characters by SMS. To respond, people only need to respond with a 'JA' (Yes) to SMS number “4777”. One minute later, participants receive another SMS to thank them and to tell them how many people have already sent a protest. “Thank you for your participation. You are the [Xth] person to react.” Later, participants will receive a SMS to inform them of the follow-up of the campaign, such as the release of the person from custody.

As a result, The Dutch section had forwarded nearly 6,000 SMS protests some weeks before to ask for the release of the Uzbek poet Yusuf Dzhumaev. He was subsequently released on 29 December 2001. Mohamad Fuad Mohd Ikhwan was reportedly released unconditionally on 16 July 2001, three days after the Dutch section of Amnesty International had sent a fax with 5,355 SMS messages to the Malaysian government. Wajih Ghanim was released on 18 November 2001 under an amnesty issued by President Bashar al-Assad. He was one of nine prisoners of conscience released under the amnesty. A fax with 6,394 SMS appeals had been sent to the government on 22 October.

Although Amnesty International rarely claims direct responsibility for improvements in the situation of the people featured in Urgent Action cases. Some improvement is reported in the follow-up of around one third of all Urgent Action cases issued. This has resulted in death sentences being commuted, 'disappeared' people reappearing, the whereabouts of detained persons announced and thus reducing the chances of torture as well as seriously ill prisoners being given medical attention.

There were a number of additional benefits of the SMS actions for the AI Dutch section. This method has attracted many, possibly many thousands of participants who had not joined the Urgent Action network previously. An indication of this is that of SMS participants, the age group is young: 16% is between 11 and 15, a total of 44% is younger than 20 years of age. One young Dutch participant in the SMS network expressed it this way, “This is just the way I like to campaign for Amnesty: it’s simple, modern and effective. Amnesty uses the best weapon to prevent people from torture: the mobile phone!”

Adapting traditional human rights fact-finding methodology to emerging human rights issues

ahorwart — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 12:17:17 -0500

MAHR uses traditional human rights monitoring methods to document human rights abuses, but has made a practice of adapting this methodology to address emerging human rights issues. MAHR has developed practical and sustainable strategies for adapting human rights monitoring methods to address domestic violence in Eastern Europe, and has used this tactic to develop a positive legal and social culture on behalf of women’s human rights in Bulgaria.

Violence against women in the family has only recently been recognized as a priority for international action. In the early 1990s, MAHR began adapting traditional human rights fact-finding methods to document violations of women's human rights such as domestic violence, rape, employment discrimination, sexual harassment in the workplace and trafficking in women and girls for commercial sexual exploitation. The findings on violence against women in 22 countries have been published in reports that include an analysis of each country's legislation related to women's rights and of the local law enforcement system, as well as recommendations on bringing laws and practice into conformity with international human rights obligations.

In 1995, at the invitation of women’s groups in Bulgaria, MAHR sent a delegation to investigate and document domestic violence and, using a human rights framework, analyzed the legal system’s response to domestic violence. MAHR’s 1996 Domestic Violence in Bulgaria report documents a legal system where police regularly failed to respond to calls from domestic violence victims, prosecutors categorized domestic violence as a “family matter”, and judges did not hold offenders accountable for their violent crimes. Further, there were no shelters and few services for victims of domestic violence.

After the report was published, MAHR partnered with human rights and women’s groups in Bulgaria to train legal professionals and advocates to better protect the safety of battered women. The report was also used by Bulgarian NGOs to argue for the necessity of better laws to protect women from domestic violence. MAHR consulted with the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation in drafting a new civil order for protection law which was introduced in the Bulgarian Parliament in April and became law in October 2003. The first of its kind in the region, the law allows battered women to seek civil orders from the court that direct abusers to stay away from victims. Modeled after Minnesota’s civil order for protection laws, the Bulgarian law provides for immediate protection to victims of domestic violence without requiring that they pursue criminal remedies against or divorce from their abusers. Minnesota Advocates staff and volunteers are returning to Bulgaria in November 2003 to provide assistance with training police and judges on implementing the new law.

MAHR is currently using the human rights methodology that it has used in other countries to investigate and document immigrant women's experiences in the Twin Cities area in the United States. The purpose is to identify both the barriers that battered immigrant women may encounter in seeking such protection, as well as models or programs that have been particularly effective in addressing the specific needs and concerns of immigrant women. The findings will be documented in a report using a human rights law framework. The project's Steering Committee, composed of community members and domestic violence advocates, will guide the report drafting process and review and provide feedback on the report. In conjunction with local advocates, the Women's Program plans to distribute the report to local and national community groups, legislators, advocates, and practitioners.

This tactic’s success is dependent on a number of factors, including a strong resource base of professional volunteers, a sustained organizational commitment to acting on information learned through fact-finding and documentation of human rights abuses, and a strong constructive relationship with government agencies of the country under investigation.