H.R The importance of social networks:
As the use of social media becomes
increasingly mainstream, it is changing the character of rights advocacy and
communication around the world, with rights defenders and organizations
continuing to refine their online presence and expand their ability to reach
a global audience.
The Human Rights Commission of Australia has embraced social media:
They are active on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and blogs. Citizens can
register complaints online to the Human Rights Commission of New Zealand. The Equality and Human Rights Commission
in Britain is
also onboard with social media. The South African Human Rights Commission established an e-learning portal,
partnering with educational institutions to promote human rights education.
Most mainstream human rights advocates and campaigners use social media as
an integral part of their outreach. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Witness are
among the internationally recognized advocacy and research organizations
now using Twitter to share information and calls to action. Amnesty
International has said that social media is key as it explores the future of human rights activism.
Using social media to promote human rights:
“I had no words to
add, I just sat down for some minutes. I felt she wanted to spare me from
listening, listening to horrors that many others preferred untold,” wrote
Rosebell Kagumire on her blog.
Rosebell, a human rights activist and multimedia
journalist, wrote about her encounter with a woman at a medical center in
northern Uganda. “I should not be telling you this,” said the woman as she was
recounting the story of her abduction and the years of sexual violations she
suffered during the civil war.
Rosebell's blog features commentaries and stories on
political issues with a focus on women's rights in Uganda and the region. Her
blog is very popular among young people who are looking for an independent
analysis of events not usually found in traditional media.
Promoting human rights through social media, mobile
communication and digital networks is not only Rosebell’s objective but the
goal of six other writers, bloggers and journalists, all human rights defenders
in their countries, who have been nominated Internet Freedom Fellows by the
U.S. Department of State.
The
Social Network for Justice and Human Rights (Rede Social de
Justiça e Defesa dos Direitos Humanos or, Rede Social) is a human rights
organization that supports the work of social movements in Brazil through legal
assistance, trainings, reporting and media campaigns on abuses of human rights.
The Internet and social media have become increasingly important in political activity. Blogging, video-sharing and tweeting were crucial in the political events in North Africa and the Middle East in 2011. They are important to human rights defenders everywhere. But the use of these new technologies to assert old freedoms has been met with repression by some governments.
Social media is increasingly helpful to not only monitor emerging human rights emergencies, but also to uncover incorrect information. A recent example is when Twitter helped me to spot incorrect contextual information on a newly uploaded execution video from Syria. This is just one instance in which crowdsourced expertise from social media can open up new opportunities for human rights organizations. Having that said, the challenges and pitfalls are numerous. I thought about these issues a lot while preparing for a Truthloader debate last week on how citizen journalism is changing the world.
http://blog.amnestyusa.org/middle-east/twitter-to-the-rescue-how-social-media-is-transforming-human-rights-monitoring/
