Thank you for visiting this conversation summary by Daniel D’Esposito of HURIDOCS, Enrique Piracés of Benetech, and the New Tactics online community on Working Safely and Effectively with Documentation Tools (2014).
Documentation is a crucial aspect of the quest for justice, accountability and transparency. Whether our goal is to raise awareness about an issue, build a case for a human rights court or commission, or collect evidence for a criminal proceeding, documenting what happened (or what is happening) is often the first step towards positive change.
The information we are collecting is sensitive by nature. It often includes information about human rights abuses such as victims’ testimonies, names of perpetrators, witnesses, and locations. It may include digital evidence like video or images. How can defenders, who are not technologists, ensure that their information is secure? Defenders need to reduce their own risk of harm throughout the documentation process, but how? How can defenders make sure that they have the ability to uphold their commitment to safeguarding the information of vulnerable populations?
there I still risk involved despite advancement in technology has made the documentation process easier and more manageable. How can defenders ensure information stored is secure? Are modern mediums for documentation more dependable than those of the past? Is social media a trusted form of documentation? During this conversation, participants discuss many of these questions, along with key tools and topics related to security, risk, transparency, convenience, and accessibility.
Tools Designed for Human Rights Documentation:
- CaseBox is designed to support the needs of litigation NGOs that are looking for an integrated and web-based application to manage their caseload. (but this tool is flexible enough to be used for any kind of case management) Built by HURIDOCS
- Corroborator is intended to help journalists, researchers, and civil society activists cope with modern large-scale data. It is designed to help analysts create verifiable chronologies of events (Incidents) based on information submitted from a multitude of sources (Bulletins). Built by eQualit.ie
- Martus is a secure information management tool developed by Benetech that allows you to create a searchable and encrypted database and back this data up remotely to your choice of publicly available servers. The Martus software is used by organizations around the world to protect sensitive information and shield the identity of victims or witnesses who provide testimony on human rights abuses.
- OpenEvSys is a free and open-source database application developed by HURIDOCS and is built on the Events methodology for recording violations and the “who did what to whom” data model
- RightsCase – RightsCase helps you to securely record, collate and analyse information and evidence of past and ongoing human rights violations. RightsCase allows you to access meaningful statistics through visualisations of collated data. Built by eQualit.ie
- Ushahidi is a data management system that rapidly collects data from the crowd and visualizes what happened, when and where.
Why is security important to human rights documentation?
Security is important to human rights documentation, especially due to its unique nature: documentation of human rights violations generates resistance from different adversaries that will depend on context. Not only are documentators at risk but so are vulnerable populations with which human rights defenders work because of the nature of data collection. Future security must also consider the responsibility to the populations for whom data is being collected. Are there ethical principles that exist for the human rights community about documentation? One participant suggests that the community should influence how data is collected, managed, and used, including giving informed consent and the right to terminate a project.
Where & when does documentation happen and how we can make it more secure?
In this discussion, questions were raised concerning ways of documenting, the best ways to collect data and ways to both protect and deal with sensitive data.
The role of tool developers: One participant asked: is it the ethical responsibility of tool developers to make tools that are easy to use and secure? if it was, would it even be practical to do so?
Documentation tools can be made safer by improving builder-user relationships. These relationships should be informed and iterative, instead of a dichotomy, through responsible data aspects.
As developers and users, it is important to consider convenience vs security of data: the convenience and utility of the methodology of collecting data matters. Another participant suggests security vs convenience is more of a balancing act: it is integral to understand the consequences of a security breach and weigh it against the convenience factor.
Also highlighted was the importance of using Information Tool Development, as well as projective lifecycle considerations and organizational policy in dealing with sensitive data in management and collection processes. One idea is to create a protection system that promotes more responsible data collection and management, especially as people without in-depth training in data management, privacy, and security increasingly handle data collection.
The role of the organization
It is helpful to have a security policy and a security-level classification system in place in order to try to reduce the possible consequences of a security breach. One participant reiterates the importance of this policy: awareness and policy can aid people to make more sensible decisions when balancing convenience vs security. To help lessen inconvenience, the workflow can build security into the workflow. Organizational culture can help ensure such convenience by using short-term goals.
Policy and procedures can help complement short-term goals. For cultural change to occur, there needs to be a “champion” in the organization. This champion needs to identify the right partners, think from the inside about what information security means for them, and drive the process. As this champion convinces more colleagues and drives important improvements, the policy becomes more effective. Speculation on the prerequisites for such a culture to form appears here.
The role of intermediaries
Many agree the role of intermediaries is critical to the awareness of human rights issues, educating responders, and filtering information. One participant asks: how do we better integrate citizen witnesses (or those ‘first on the scene’) into more formalized documentation efforts?
How do we select the right to approach to documentation?
Participants list many tools that can assist in human rights documentation. But how do we know which one to choose? One participant shared a list of fifteen criteria for choosing the right human rights documentation tool.
Human rights documentation tools can integrate with the tools documenters traditionally use. They can also be incorporated into newer documentation tools, allowing documentation to be substantiated and dispelling doubts over outcomes. This integration enables stakeholders, such as investigators and courts, to conduct more inquiries.
Each of the following three levels requires different security approaches: original documents, digital documents, and data collection. Threats to security include:
- information loss (most common threat, but also easiest to avoid)
- privacy loss
- tampering
- natural threats
Security measures, such as properly implemented encryptions, proper monitoring, and/or giving a proper response (to both people at risk and the wider public) helps diminish the threat.
To focus on what threats are more likely to happen given your context, it is helpful to perform risk analysis. It is important to make conscious and informed decisions when selecting the tools and approach for human rights documentation. This questionnaire can help organizations with risk assessment.
In addition to selecting the right tool, you should consider the possible sources of information you will use to collect your data. Utilizing open sources is important for meaningful documentation. The point when documentation occurs both helps sensitize data and makes using open sources easier. One participant shared examples to show how organizations have used open data effectively by using information management systems.
Effective & safe collaborative documentation and information sharing
Collaboration in documentation is becoming more and more apparent in the human rights field. Fortunately, new technologies are making it safer, more efficient, and easier to collaborate across sectors. One medium for information sharing is mobile phones. There are both pros and cons apparent when using mobile phones in the field. While accessibility to information is faster and easily spread with a mobile device, accessibility to the Internet and electricity is often a major challenge. It is also important to consider both the risks and opportunities that go along with transferring information via cell phone.
Resources Shared
Articles, Guides and Reports:
Other Documentation Tools:
