In the field of human rights, we now have a burgeoning array of methodologies for documentation and an even wider collection of experts who use them. This enormous range of options, methods and actors has conflicting effects, creating both challenges and opportunities.
New documentation methods and actors have certainly increased the transparency, and theoretically the accountability, of governments and individuals to the global citizenry. Whether a teenager with a camera phone or an organization with satellite images, someone is always watching. Conversely, the tidal wave of media emerging from conflict zones has undermined its own shock value. Images and stories that may once have enraged the international community to action now largely fall victim to apathetic viewers.
Good intentions can lead to bad outcomes if information is gathered or used in cursory ways. More people using more methods to document human rights abuses is generally a positive trend, but this growth has also created a void of common knowledge in how to responsibly and effectively employ practices of documentation. Many organizations have attempted to address this issue by publishing specific guidelines. These resources, however, are not centralized; many grassroots documenters are unaware of their existence, and organizations can become “siloed” into one discipline, geographic area or interest group. Good intentions can lead to bad outcomes if information is gathered or used in cursory ways. For example, epidemiological information, like an individual’s HIV status, when improperly collected or stored, has forced individuals into hiding or to seek asylum in a different country because their family disowned them and the government sought punishment.
