Join Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps (DVC) and Amnesty International Switzerland for a two-day event to discuss open-source and other new methodologies for documenting human rights violations.
The event is taking place on Thursday 19 and Friday 20 September at Impact Hub in Geneva.
The event offers a blend of workshops and panel discussions. Participants will have the opportunity to listen and interact with specialists in the field of war crimes documentation, technology and media. Topics will include the use of artificial intelligence and autonomous weapons, the role of open source in exposing environmental crimes, techniques in documenting destructions, and human rights violations at borders.
The Digital Investigations Summit is a unique global gathering of universities and practitioners working on open-source human rights research aimed to advance the field of digital investigations through community networking meetings and skills-share sessions. It is part of the annual meeting of the Digital Verification Corps, a global university network that works with Amnesty International to support documentation of human rights abuses using open-source techniques.
Every year Amnesty International trains and mentors students from the University of Berkeley, University of Essex, University of Cambridge, University of Ibero, University of Pretoria, Hertie School of Governance, Geneva Academy for International Humanitarian Law and Bard College, who all directly contribute to groundbreaking investigations of Amnesty International and its partners. In 2019, the DVC won the Times Higher Education Award for International Collaboration of the Year.
PROGRAMME:
19 September 2024
18:45- 20:00
Welcome words: Marija Ristic and Alexandra Karle, Amnesty International and Amnesty Switzerland
Panel: Researching the impact of artificial intelligence technologies and autonomous weapons deployed in conflicts
In many recent conflicts, armed actors have used artificial intelligence technologies and autonomous weapons. This has significant consequences for civilians, not only during hostilities but also afterward. Protection mechanisms provided by governments and supranational organizations are proving increasingly inadequate. At the same time, researchers documenting war crimes and technology are facing challenges when investigating crimes allegedly purported by these types of weapons- from transparency to accountability. What can we do about it?
Moderator: Milena Marin, Amnesty International
Panelists:
Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International
Fred Abrahams, Bard College Berlin
Anna Rosalie Griepl, Geneva Academy
Joe Dyke, Airwars
Matt Mahmoudi, Amnesty International
20:00 –21:00 Reception
20 September 2024
10:30 –11:00 Welcome coffee
11:00 – 12:30 Workshop 1: Investigating Wanton Destruction in Gaza – Barbara Marcolini, Amnesty International
This session will explore how Amnesty International’s Crisis Evidence Lab used satellite imagery and videos posted on social media by Israeli soldiers to gather evidence of possible war crimes in Gaza.
11:00 – 12:30 Workshop 2: Chaos Into Justice – Turning Open-Source Evidence Into Accountability – Joe Dyke, Airwars
This talk will highlight how Airwars is bringing together thousands of open-source allegations of civilian harm documented by its researchers with a new tool to identify munition remnants. Airwars’ Director of Programmes Joe Dyke will guide you through their process of gathering and verifying open source information on civilian casualties – particularly in Gaza – and introduce the Open Source Munitions Portal – a new tool launched to help human rights researchers understand the basics of munitions and provide a library of verified images of munitions from conflict zones across the globe.
12:30 –13:00 Coffee break
13:00 – 14:30 Workshop 3: The Use of Open-Source Investigation Methods in Tracking Environmental Harms – Sofia Kooner, Bhalpriya Kaur Sandhu, Fraser Robert Byers, Human Rights Centre, University Of California, Berkeley
This session will offer an analysis of the application of open-source methodologies, data, and tools in the ongoing monitoring and documentation of environmental harms. We will assess the effectiveness of these approaches in enhancing environmental accountability and transparency, while also addressing the challenges associated with their implementation.
13: 00- 14:30 Workshop 4: Unveiling border violence through geospatial practices: between visibility and dehumanisation – Stanislas Michel, Elio Panese, Border Forensics
Building on the work of Border Forensics, this workshop will delve into the use of geospatial analysis, remote sensing and visual tools to investigate cases of border violence. At the same time, this workshop will explore the ambivalent effects that these tools and data practices can produce. While rendering visible violent practices is crucial to contest them and foster mobility justice, we will collectively reflect on how we can mitigate the risk that these strategies of documentation reproduce forms of dehumanisation and violence towards affected people.
14:30 – 15:30 Lunch
15:30 – 17:00 Workshop 5: Organising and storing open-source information: how to build evidence databases – Matel Sow, HURIDOCS
This workshop will focus on the open-source documentation technology Uwazi, developed by HURIDOCS. We will explore real use cases showcasing how it can be effective for OSINT researchers. Participants will also interact with the tool through a live demo of data collection and entry using Uwazi.
15:30 – 17:00 Workshop 6: Using Open-Source Information and Trade Databases to Track Arms Exports: Case Study, Sudan – Evidence Lab, Amnesty International
This session will explore methods to investigate arms trade, using the latest case studies from Amnesty International’s investigation on Sudan. It will focus on techniques to corroborate shipment level trade data and other open-source information.
