Witness (organization)
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WITNESS is a
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 ...
non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...
based out of
Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...
. Its mission is to partner with on-the-ground organizations to support the documentation of human rights violations and their consequences, further public engagement, advocate for policy change, and seek justice. WITNESS has partnered with over 300 human rights groups in more than 80 countries.


History

WITNESS was founded in 1992 by musician and activist
Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...
, along with the assistance of Human Rights First (then known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights) and its founding executive director, Michael Posner. Gabriel was influenced by his experience of using a Sony Handycam, one of the first small camcorders available to consumers, to record the stories he heard while traveling with
Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...
’s 1988 Human Rights Now! Tour. Gabriel made the decision to establish WITNESS after the 1991 police brutality incident involving
Rodney King Rodney Glen King (April 2, 1965June 17, 2012) was a Black American victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was severely beaten by Police officer, officers of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) during his arrest after a high spe ...
Jr. The incident gained significant attention due to bystander's video capturing King's beating by the Los Angeles police. To Gabriel, this video demonstrated the power of video to capture the world’s attention and viscerally communicate human rights abuses. WITNESS was founded the following year, in 1992, with a $1 million seed grant from the Reebok Human Rights Foundation and a partnership with the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First). In 1999, WITNESS.org was utilizing streaming video as a part of its mission. It was a finalist for RealNetworks, Inc. Streamers Progressive Award as the year's best non-profit streaming media organization, losing out to Assistive Media. In 2001, WITNESS became an independent nonprofit organization. In 2004, WITNESS started hosting a benefit dinner and concert called "Focus for Change." In 2009, WITNESS initiated a focused use of
social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
as a part of its outreach for video for change. Since 2009, the organization began reporting social media statistics in the organization's performance reports. In 2012, WITNESS launched a joint project with Storyful and
YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
called the Human Rights Channel. WITNESS has a staff of 30 and a $3.9 million budget.


Campaigns

WITNESS has worked with over 300 organizations in over eighty countries since its founding. On February 18, 2015, 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 ...
'' article, “The Media Doesn’t Care What Happens Here”, featured WITNESS’ work in
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
and their video as evidence initiative with media activists operating in the country's favelas. Other programs include:


Training

WITNESS has developed training kits to help activists and videographers use video to support their advocacy campaigns. WITNESS gives access to their educational materials through their online library.


Cameras Everywhere

WITNESS partnered with the Guardian Project to launch the Cameras Everywhere with the goal of ensuring that human rights videos are created and distributed safely, effectively, and ethically. The focus of the Cameras Everywhere project is SecureSmartCam, a program that runs on smartphones to ensure the safety and authenticity of human rights videos. The safety of activists is the goal of the ObscureCam, which detects and blurs faces in photos and videos. Video support is under development as of March 2012. The authenticity of the video is the goal of InformaCam, which automatically records and encrypts information such as the GPS coordinates of the camera during filming and nearby wireless signals.


Gender-based violence

WITNESS provides support to activists and survivors of gender-based violence. Feminicide in Mexico: In March 2009, Mexico's Attorney General and Minister of Interior committed to personally follow up on the cases of Neyra Cervantes, who was brutally murdered in 2003, and her cousin, David Meza, who spent three years in jail after being tortured into confessing to her murder. This agreement was the outcome of a meeting between Peter Gabriel, actor
Diego Luna Diego Dionisio Luna Alexander (; born 29 December 1979) is a Mexican actor, director, and producer, best known for his portrayal of Cassian Andor in ''Rogue One, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'' (2016) and the Disney+ series ''Andor (TV series), ...
, JaguaresSaúl Hernández, Patricia Cervantes (Neyra’s mother) and Mexico’s President Calderón, asking him to end feminicide in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua, Mexico. Since the meeting, WITNESS partner Comisión Mexicana has met twice with government officials, who are reviewing the status of the proceedings of Neyra/David’s cases and studying the list of priority policies related to ending feminicide. Neyra’s story is the focus of the film, ''Dual Injustice'', co-produced by WITNESS and (CMDPDH). The video was part of a successful international WITNESS campaign in 2006 calling for Miguel David Meza’s release and a further investigation into Neyra’s case. Discrimination against Akhdam Women in Yemen: In 2009, WITNESS partnered with the Sisters Arab Forum (SAF) to produce a documentary called “Breaking the Silence,” about the plight of Akhdam women in
Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...
. The video is currently banned in Yemen, and both WITNESS and SAF are working to repeal the ban.


Middle East and North Africa transitions

WITNESS launched a program in 2011 to support the transition to democracy in the
Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
and
North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...
following the Arab Spring. This program includes: a partnership with the Egyptian Democratic Academy (EDA); hosting a human rights convention in the region to identify immediate needs; identifying, disseminating and translating innovative tools and tactics; and developing new apps for human rights in the region.


Child Soldiers

2007: WITNESS teamed with AJEDI-Ka/PES to create a video to oppose the recruitment of child soldiers in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...
(DRC). The partnership sought to bring to justice those responsible for the crimes that led to the 2007 war crimes charges by the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and International court, international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute ...
(ICC) against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. The resulting film, ''A Duty to Protect,'' was screened at a high-level panel discussion at U.N. Headquarters in November 2007, following the arrest by the ICC of a second DRC
warlord Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...
for the use of child soldiers. WITNESS partnered with Amnesty International to develop a companion curriculum for the film.


Human trafficking

Modern-Day Slavery in Brazil: In 2007, ''Bound by Promises'', a film about modern-day slavery in rural
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, was screened before the Brazilian Congress’ Human Rights Commission. Human Sex Trafficking in the United States: In 2012, WITNESS co-produced a 21-minute advocacy video called ''What I Have Been Through Is Not Who I Am'', with ECPAT-USA. The short documentary tells the story of Katrina, a child who was trafficked for sex in the United States.


Elder abuse

In 2009, WITNESS and the National Council on Aging (NCOA) produced ''An Age for Justice: Confronting Elder Abuse in America'', a film about the financial, emotional and physical abuse that up to an estimated five million older Americans face every year.


Climate change

WITNESS joined the "iMatter Trust Campaign" with Our Children's Trust, the iMatter Campaign and students from Montana State University’s MFA in Science and Natural History Filmmaking to co-produce a series of videos highlighting how
climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...
and government inaction are affecting the everyday lives of our youth.


The Hub: Human Rights Media Center

WITNESS launched the Hub in 2007 as a single point for users to upload human rights videos that might not be uploadable elsewhere. Because those needs have been fulfilled by other sources, the Hub has now become an archive for the content that had previously been uploaded.


Outside ratings

*
Charity Navigator Charity Navigator is a charity assessment organization that evaluates more than 230,000 charitable organizations based in the United States, operating as a 501(c)(3) organization. It provides insights into a nonprofit's financial stability, adh ...
awarded WITNESS 3 out of 4 stars overall, and 4 out of 4 stars on “Accountability and Transparency”. *'' The Global Journal'' rated WITNESS No. 83 of the top 100 non-governmental organizations in 2012. *''The Global Journal'' rated WITNESS No. 52 of the top 100 non-governmental organizations in 2013.


See also

* Video evidence * Police accountability


References


External links

*
innova''t''ions (MIT) Spring 2008"A world of witnesses"
an article in ''
The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...
''
Peter Gabriel fights injustice with video
a talk given at TED
A Top 100 NGO
by ''The Global Journal'' {{Authority control Human rights organizations based in the United States Photojournalism organizations Organizations established in 1992 1992 establishments in New York City Non-profit organizations based in Brooklyn Criticism of police brutality Evidence law Accountability