American Non-Profit Seeks to Transform Global Human Rights Advocacy

WITNESS, a US-based non-profit, is currently looking to revolutionize the realm of human rights advocacy. WITNESS is known for its use of video to expose human rights abuses and initiate positive change around the world. It recently launched the Human Rights Video Hub Pilot, in collaboration with Global Voices Online- visit it here: www.globalvoicesonline.org/witness. Global Voices is a global citizens’ media project, an aggregated blog of conversations from people who are talking about their country/region to a global audience. This pilot is the first step of a larger endeavor: the development of a human rights-focused participatory media site. Set to launch in mid-2007, the site will allow people around the world to upload video footage and other media, and to organize action through the building of communities and networks. One could think of it as a YouTube meets MySpace for human rights content and organizing.

The Pilot is a curated video blog featuring footage and commentary on a variety of human rights issues that so far include: US secret detentions, child soldiers, censorship in China and rising homophobia in Eastern Europe. In order to make the Video Hub a viable and powerful on-line community for the advancement of human rights, WITNESS is seeking feedback on the Human Rights Video Hub Pilot. Comments can be posted at the Pilot website. To find out more about WITNESS or the Video Hub Pilot, visit www.witness.org.