This type of project is
an excellent example of how science and technology can be applied to help expose human rights violations.
The AAAS has captured and analysed satellite images which corroborate eyewitness accounts of human rights abuses in Burma.
A new analysis of high-resolution satellite images completed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) pinpoints evidence consistent with village destruction, forced relocations, and a growing military presence at 25 sites across eastern Burma where eye-witnesses have reported human rights violations.
Camp constructed: “Before” and “after” satellite images show the site of an apparent military encampment in Burma on November 11, 2000 (top), and again on December 13, 2006 (bottom), when new bamboo fencing can be seen. The human-rights group the Free Burma Rangers reported a major expansion of this camp in 2006, corroborated by the American Association for the Advancement of Science analysis of images [1].
Slide shows are available at MSNBC and on MIT Technology Review.
The AAS team and human rights groups in Burma conducted field research, obtained field descriptions of more than 70 instances of human rights violations that were reported to take place from mid-2006 through early 2007 in eastern Burma’s Karen State and surrounding regions. Field research is dangerous, and the maps they worked with were old and very outdated. Nonetheless they were able to
precisely mapped the locations of 31 of some 70 reported human rights violations by comparing field notes with information provided by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Satellite image analysis then revealed physical evidence to corroborate reported instances of human rights violations at 25 of the 31 accurately mapped sites. Wherever possible, Bromley compared archival satellite images with newly acquired shots to examine sites before as well as after the reported military activity. In other cases, recent images revealed clear signs of destruction.
Read the summary report which includes images and access more detailed information about this particular case study here.
The Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights project is part of the Science and Human Rights Program (SHRP) of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). As a program of AAAS - the world’s largest multidisciplinary scientific membership organization - SHRP engages scientists and marshals scientific tools, techniques, and technologies to enhance the impact of human rights work, promotes the human right to benefit from scientific progress (Article 15, ICESCR), and brings human rights norms to the conduct of science. The AAAS also describes their methods and has conducted this form of research reporting in Chad & Sudan, Eritrea, Gaza Strip, Lebanon, North Korea and Zimbabwe. The latest research in Burma was supported by the Open Society Institute and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
