Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley – Human Rights Investigations Lab
Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley
Human Rights Investigations Lab
Building on longstanding work in the field, the Human Rights Center launched a Technology and Human Rights Program in 2015 to strengthen the use of emerging technologies in human rights investigations and prosecutions. We have since created the first university-based Human Rights Investigations Lab of its kind to conduct open-source investigations for international organizations, news outlets, and courts. The lab collaborates with Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps and other legal, advocacy, and media partners to advance human rights documentation and strengthen the veracity of information. Students are trained to verify publicly available information on potential war crimes and hate crimes and to rapidly respond to human rights crises. The lab also works with legal partners to conduct open-source investigations for legal accountability and convenes experts to establish protocols for digital evidence.
Year the project was started | 2015 |
Year the project was completed | in progress |
Website | https://humanrights.berkeley.edu/programs-projects/human-rights-investigations-lab |
Type of organization. | Academic institutions |
Technology categories | OSINT |
Themes | Human rights |
Topic/ Focus | Investigate potential crimes, abuses, and misinformation worldwide |
Methodology & Data | Open-source investigations/ Training the next generation of students how to find, verify, and analyze information found on social media |
Contribution & Discoveries / Practical Applications | Today, more than 75 students from two dozen majors and minors who collectively speak some 30 languages are working in teams to contribute verified information to international NGOs, news organizations, and legal partners |