Over the past months, the HURIDOCS team has been actively participating in international and local conferences and discussions focused on human rights, documentation, and responsible technology.
In late January, HURIDOCS Programme Officer Phurbu Dolma was in Bangladesh connecting with local civil society and contributing to key conversations on OSINT, technology, and evidence-ready human rights documentation.
First, she joined the Verify and Resist workshop (21–23 January) organised by WITNESS and Activate Rights, where she shared some of our partners’ Uwazi databases and engaged with local youth on ethical documentation practices.
Phurbu also took part in the Archive & Resist Conclave – Cox’s Bazar edition (24 January), sharing how Uwazi and Preserve can support community-led documentation and help archive audiovisual materials to meet evidentiary standards, organised by Activate Rights, Surge Bangladesh and the United Nations Development Programme.
Lastly, the visit concluded at the Archive & Resist Conclave in Dhaka (26–27 January), strengthening exchanges on documentation and archiving practices.
In February, our Programme Manager, Salva Lacruz, travelled to Mexico City to meet with the Red Todos los Derechos para Todas y Todos, the National Network of Human Rights Civil Organisations comprising 88 collectives spanning the entire country.
As these organisations are spread across Mexico, opportunities to gather in person are rare. Salva joined their General Assembly to work with partners on their documentation needs and expectations, kicking off a new project on documenting human rights violations and attacks against human rights defenders, and is supported by the Canton de Genève.
In early March, HURIDOCS was honoured to host a gathering linked to the Human Rights Data Co-operative, a group of human rights and technology experts. In our Geneva office, together with a number of OSINT investigators and organisations, we envisioned a sector-wide, networked ecosystem in which archives and other organisations holding documentation retain ownership of their data while forging stronger, more durable connections with those pursuing accountability.
HURIDOCS Executive Director Danna Ingleton was invited to speak at Chatham House in London, hosted by the Oxford Institute of Technology and Justice (OITJ), together with Videre and Artemi. Danna was part of the panel AI: Ally or Adversary, together with Phillipa Webb, Sam Dubberly of Human Rights Watch and Daragh Murray of Queen Mary University of London School of Law.
Following this, Danna visited the beautiful city of Vaduz to meet with the Principality of Liechtenstein Office for Foreign Affairs, which is a long-term partner of HURIDOCS. The visit centred on strengthening our collaboration and included discussions around the Tech for Good space, open-source technology, responsible AI and how ethical tech can support impactful human rights work.
Also in March, Danna attended an informal conversation around philanthropic strategies to help human rights and social justice organisations develop alternative resourcing strategies to reduce dependence on philanthropic grants and diversify their resource bases. The event was held in London at The Conduit and was organised by Alternative Resourcing for Change and Solidarity (ARCS) Roundtable.
Read more about these events and Danna’s reflections here.
Our Programme Officer, Arina Serebrennikova, was in Sarajevo for the three-day workshop, Documenting Atrocities and Human Rights Violations, organised by the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and Mnemonic.
The workshop brought together practitioners to strengthen capacity in the responsible collection, verification, archiving and management of sensitive human rights documentation, with a particular focus on the challenges of digital archiving today. Topics included open source investigations, verification of digital content, ethical and legal considerations, and the role of AI in documentation work.
After six years, the HURIDOCS team gathered in person for five days in Marrakesh to reflect on where we have been, sharpen where we are going, strengthen the team behind the work, and simply be together. This reunion was a reminder that behind every tool we build, every decision we make, there is a team of people who care deeply about this work: strengthening the human rights community through documentation technology and strategies to secure justice.
Read more about the retreat here.
HURIDOCS is eager to engage in convenings that bring together the wider human rights and technology communities, and we place great value on learning from the diverse experiences, perspectives and innovations that emerge across regions. These exchanges are essential to strengthening the collective of tools and systems that support human rights work.
If you are interested in connecting with our team, exploring collaboration or inviting us into future discussions, please contact us.