The catastrophic earthquakes that struck south-eastern Türkiye and northern Syria on 6 February and again on 20 February devastated entire communities. More than 48,000 people were killed and over 100,000 others were injured. When a crisis occurs, Amnesty International responds by conducting...

In data-informed investigations, storytelling is a way to organise and transmit information. However, stories are selective by design. At the end of an investigation, a dataset is able to tell, and therefore amplify, some stories and not others. Even a well-written methodology is a partial story of...

The term ‘remote sensing’ refers to the collection of information whilst away from an object or place of interest. In this broad sense, the use of closed-circuit televisions (CCTV), drones, or even mobile phones may all constitute remote sensing. For the purposes of this blog, we will focus on...

In investigations, digital 3D models become containers for organising evidence in time and space

Over the past few months in the Evidence Lab, we have been thinking about how we document and share the huge variety of work we do. No two days are ever the same. Our work spans from reactive verification responding to emerging crises, to large-scale multi-month collaborations, to visualising...

This article discusses traumatic events including sexual assault. Documenting human rights abuses while working as an open source researcher often places you at risk of vicarious trauma. However, there are actions you can take to mitigate the risks and safeguard your wellbeing. Amnesty...

January is traditionally the time when we reflect on the past year and often make overly ambitious plans for the year ahead. There are past projects and events that stand out, leading us to think more about how we should frame our work and what lessons to draw from it. One of those events for...

Amnesty International investigations usually involve the work of at least half-a-dozen people. In projects where we engage our network of student volunteers, the Digital Verification Corps [DVC], those numbers more than triple. More than 100 students across five universities (the University of...

Haga clic aquí para leer la publicación del blog en español. Introduction Disappearances committed by state and non-state actors are one of Mexico’s most pressing issues. According to official figures, there are more than 100,000 missing persons in Mexico. The majority of these cases (80%)...

Introducción Las desapariciones cometidas por agentes estatales y no estatales son uno de los problemas más acuciantes de México. Según cifras oficiales, hay más de 100,.000 personas desaparecidas en México. La mayoría de estos casos (80%) se han documentado desde 2007 debido al uso de las fuerzas...

In a very short period of time, since armed conflict broke out in the country’s northern Tigray region in November 2020, the Ethiopian Air Force has become a major operator of the world’s second-tier armed drone platforms. Produced by Turkey, China, and Iran, these aircraft are affordable,...

Most published open source research consists of user-generated content which has been verified, with analysis corroborating the date, time and location of capture. Once solved and explained, the process of geolocation can seem intuitive. Yet what’s less visible and less widely discussed are the...