Nathaniel A. Raymond (born November 11, 1977) is an American human rights investigator, specializing in the investigation of

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s, including mass killings and

torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons including corporal punishment, punishment, forced confession, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimid ...

. Raymond directed the anti-torture campaign at

Physicians for Human Rights Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) is a US-based not-for-profit human rights NGO that uses medicine and science to document and advocate against mass atrocities and severe human rights violations around the world. PHR headquarters are in New Y ...

(PHR), and the utilization of satellite surveillance by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). Raymond advocates the use of

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

groups and other

non-governmental organizations A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Anti-torture campaign

Raymond led Physicians for Human Rights' investigation into torture by the United States government and other governments as part of the War on Terror. He oversaw an inquiry into

Dasht-i-Leili massacre The Dasht-i-Leili massacre occurred in December 2001 during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan when 250 to 2,000 Taliban prisoners were shot and/or suffocated to death in metal shipping containers while being transferred by Junbish-i Milli sold ...

in northern

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

, which included the discovery of a mass grave site in 2002.Risen, James
"U.S. Inaction Seen After Taliban P.O.W.’s Died"
in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' (10 July 2009). Retrieved 7 July 2013.Smith, James F
"NY Times probe cites PHR's Afghan work"
in ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...

'' (10 July 2009). Retrieved 7 July 2013. In 2008, the United States

Defense Department A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divided ...

and

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

released documentation in response to

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...

requests by Raymond indicating that 1500-2000 people were killed at Dasht-i-Leili. He directed an investigation into the role of

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and explanation, interpretatio ...

s during torture sessions, and has alleged that the

American Psychological Association The American Psychological Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychologists in the United States, and the largest psychological association in the world. It has over 170,000 members, including scientists, educators, clin ...

(APA) changed its

ethics policy Business ethics (also known as corporate ethics) is a form of applied ethics or professional ethics, that examines ethical principles and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. It applies to all aspects of business co ...

specifically to allow psychologists to be present during investigations when torture is used. Raymond criticized the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

(CIA) and

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

for performing torture and

human experimentation Human subject research is systematic, scientific investigation that can be either interventional (a "trial") or observational (no "test article") and involves human beings as research subjects, commonly known as test subjects. Human subject r ...

on prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and at black sites.Raymond, Nathaniel and Scott Allen (M.D.). Physicians for Human Rights. ''Experiments in Torture: Evidence of Human Subject Research and Experimentation in the Enhanced Interrogation Program.'' (Cambridge, MA: 2012).
/ref> He stated that those acts were in violation of the

Geneva Conventions upright=1.15, The original document in single pages, 1864 The Geneva Conventions are international humanitarian laws consisting of four treaties and three additional protocols that establish international legal standards for humanitarian t ...

, the United Nations Convention against Torture, the

Nuremberg Code The Nuremberg Code () is a set of research ethics, ethical research principles for human experimentation created by the court in ''Doctors' trial, U.S. v Brandt'', one of the Subsequent Nuremberg trials that were held after the World War II, Seco ...

, and the

War Crimes Act of 1996 The War Crimes Act of 1996 is a United States federal statute that defines a war crime to include a " grave breach of the Geneva Conventions", specifically noting that "grave breach" should have the meaning defined in any convention (related to ...

, and has advocated the prosecution of CIA agents and military personnel who engaged in torture. Raymond has recommended that

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

modify the War Crimes Act to strengthen its prohibition against human experimentation, and that

state governments State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

specifically prohibit health care provider, health care professionals from participating in torture or the improper treatment of prisoners. The documentary, documentaries ''Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death'' and ''Doctors of the Dark Side'' were based in part on Raymond's work.

Satellite surveillance

Raymond was the director of operations for the Satellite Sentinel Project, a program sponsored by George Clooney, and coordinated through the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, which utilized satellite imagery and other information to produce reports on the security situation in the Sudan.Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
"Nathaniel A. Raymond"
(archived website) (2010). Retrieved 7 July 2013. In 2011, the Satellite Sentinel Project detected images of freshly-dug mass grave sites in the Southern Kordofan state of Sudan, where Sudan, Sudan's Arab military had been targeting the black minority group, ethnic minority.Harris, Paul
"George Clooney's satellite spies reveal secrets of Sudan's bloody army"
in ''The Guardian'' (24 March 2012). Retrieved 7 July 2013. Raymond stated that the Sudanese Armed Forces, Sudanese military violated the Geneva Conventions during their capture of the town of Abyei (town), Abyei. Raymond founded and currently directs Harvard's Signal Program, which conducts research and teaching on the use of technology to document and prevent human rights violations.Davies, Benjamin
"HHI Concludes Satellite Sentinel Project Pilot, Launches Signal Program"
by ''The Harvard Humanitarian Initiative'' (press release) (18 July 2012). Retrieved 7 July 2013. Raymond has advocated the use of human intelligence and satellite surveillance to investigate and prevent human rights abuses, but has also expressed concerns about the misapplication or abuse of that data.Raymond, Nathaniel, Caitlin Howarth & Jonathan Hutso
"Crisis Mapping Needs an Ethical Compass"
in ''Global Brief'' (6 February 2012). Retrieved 7 July 2013. The Signal Program is developing guidelines for how human rights workers should interpret satellite data. Raymond has also stated that an ethics code should be created for the use of crisis mapping. For his work with satellite surveillance, Raymond was named a PopTech social innovation, Social Innovation Fellow in 2013.

Animal rights

Raymond has been a lifelong advocate for the rights of household pets, specifically their right not to be strapped to the tops of moving vehicles. His writing on Seamus (dog), Seamus attracted attention in the Wikipedia community due to accusations of political bias against Mitt Romney.

References

External links

''Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death.'' Directed by Jamie Doran. Windsor, UK: Atlantic Celtic Films, 2002. TV documentary.
*Blanding, Michael

in Boston Globe#Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine (archived website) (29 April 2012).
''Doctors of the Dark Side.'' Directed by Martha Davis. New York, NY: Shelter Island, 2011. Movie trailer.
*United States Department of Defense. ":File:Dasht-i-Leili Defense Department FOIA.pdf, Freedom of Information Act Release to Physicians for Human Rights Regarding Dasht-i-Leili" (4 August 2008). *United States Department of State. ":File:Dasht-i-Leili State Department FOIA.pdf, Freedom of Information Act Release to Physicians for Human Rights Regarding Dasht-i-Leili" (19 September 2008). {{DEFAULTSORT:Raymond, Nathaniel 1977 births Living people Drew University alumni People from Northborough, Massachusetts People from Brimfield, Massachusetts American human rights activists American Episcopalians