The Satellite Sentinel Project (SSP) was conceived by George Clooney and Enough Project co-founder John Prendergast during their October 2010 visit to

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

. Through the use of satellite imagery, SSP provides an early warning system to deter mass atrocities in a given situation by focusing world attention and generating rapid responses to human rights and human security concerns taking place in that situation.

Activities

SSP currently produces reports on the state of the conflict in the border regions between

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

and

. DigitalGlobe provides

satellite imagery Satellite images (also Earth observation imagery, spaceborne photography, or simply satellite photo) are images of Earth collected by imaging satellites operated by governments and businesses around the world. Satellite imaging companies sell im ...

and analysis. Their reporting is then released to the press and policymakers by the Enough Project. In 2011, the Satellite Sentinel Project detected images of freshly-dug mass grave sites in the South Kordofan, a state of South Sudan, where Sudanese military forces had killed members of a black ethnic minority suspected to support South Sudanese forces. SSP was the first to provide evidence consistent with the razing of the villages of Maker Abior, Todach, and Tajalei in the

Abyei The Abyei Area () is an area of on the border between South Sudan and Sudan that has been accorded "special administrative status" by the 2004 Protocol on the Resolution of the Abyei Conflict (Abyei Protocol) in the Comprehensive Peace Agree ...

region of Sudan, and the project has discovered eight alleged mass graves in South Kordofan, Sudan. SSP also planned to investigate how illegal trade in diamonds, gold and ivory was used to fund human-rights abusers.

Organization and funding

Not On Our Watch Project provided seed money to launch the Satellite Sentinel Project. The Enough Project contributes field reports, policy analysis and communications strategy, and, together with Not On Our Watch and its SUDANNOW partners, pressures policymakers by urging the public to act.

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

and Internet strategy firm Trellon, LLC collaborate to design the web platform.

Limits to effectiveness

Patrick Meier, a

crisis mapping Crisis mapping (also known as disaster mapping) is the real-time gathering, display and analysis of data during a crisis, usually a natural disaster or social/political conflict (violence, elections, etc.). Crisis mapping projects usually allow ...

expert, has observed that the deterrent value of any surveillance is diminished in the absence of consequences for the perpetrators of violence. Specific to Sudan, other technologies such as drones are necessary to differentiate threats from nomads in order to generate actionable information."Will Using ‘Live’ Satellite Imagery to Prevent War in the Sudan Actually Work?" By Patrick Meier, December 30, 2011
''iRevolution.net''.

References

External links

*

Joe DeCapua, '' Voice of America News'', 2 June 2011
Satellite Sentinel Project: Opening Access to Crisis Areas
* {{Authority control Satellite imagery War in Darfur Genocide research and prevention organisations Science and technology in Sudan Science and technology in South Sudan Human rights in Sudan War crime prevention Remote sensing programs