Visual Information to Expose Human Rights Violations

Overview

Tactical Aim: 
Promotion
Tags: 
Sharing Critical Information
Country or Region: 
Palestine
Website of Organization: 
http://visualizingpalestine.org/

Visualizing Palestine is working on transforming complicated details into stories so the targeted audience can understand it easily, with the goal of the changing the global view regarding the Palestinian cause and to increase the pressure on the world leaders to support and give justice to the Palestinian cause.

After collecting data on the subject of which the crew of Visualizing Palestine agreed, photographers and architects use factual data and strong evidence such as data, maps, videos, blogs, and photos to produce visual stories that offer a new perspective on the reality of what is happening in Palestine through transforming the narrative data into visual information “infographics” exposing the violations of the occupation.

Those designs present a better understanding of living under occupation, correcting misconceptions particularly in the Western world, and make people aware of the Israeli occupation policies that are used against Palestinian civilians in the occupied territory. The purpose is shedding light on human rights violations committed by occupation troops, and the daily struggle of Palestinians. Visualizing Palestine documented the data in the form of a simple show, starting from the birth of Palestinian babies on the borders to a more complex visual show which exposes discrimination in sharing water in the occupied West Bank, to showing other sides of the occupation, like the forced displacement of Palestinians and the loss of their homes and lands as a result of the occupation. That is shown by using a timeline focusing on the demographic changes of the region.

 

New Tactics in Human Rights does not advocate for or endorse specific tactics, policies or issues.

What we can learn from this tactic: 
Using simple visuals online is an effective way to quickly and easily disseminate information to people all over the world about a given issue. It serves many functions such as educating the masses, breaking stigmas and exposing human rights violations. 
When working with data, it is important to represent the facts in a variety of ways. Visualizing Palestine does this in a successful and creative way by presenting the complicated details of the challenges Palestinians face through stories, blogs, maps, videos, photos, and infographics. When representing data in any context, it is important to remember that people learn and take in information in different ways. While blogs and stories may be effective with one audience, videos and photos may be a better option for others. It is also important to keep in mind any visual or hearing impairment that your target audience may have, and make adjusts for how the data is represented. 
Special care should be taken when working online, especially when operating in areas where media censorship is high. Anonymity is vital when using personal stories in your data collection. When dealing with already marginalized groups, it is important that sources are not revealed to ensure their protection from further harm or other potential backlash.