ABOUT
ABOUT
THIS GUIDE
TAKEAWAYS
• Video footage captured by citizens and activists can do more than
expose injustice. It can also serve as evidence in the criminal and
civil justice processes.
• In many situations, citizens and on-the-ground human rights
activists and advocates are better positioned to collect evidence
of human rights abuse than professional investigators because
investigators almost always arrive after-the-fact when evidence has
deteriorated or is gone.
Video captured by citizens and on-the-ground human rights activists can be instrumental in
drawing attention to human rights abuse. But many filmers want their videos to do more. They have
the underlying expectation that footage exposing abuse can help bring about justice. And it can.
It can because in many situations, citizens and on-the-ground human rights activists are better
positioned to collect evidence of human rights abuse than professional investigators because
investigators almost always arrive after-the-fact when evidence has deteriorated or is gone. However,
the quality of citizen video and other content rarely passes the higher bar needed to function as
evidence in a court of law.
This Guide provides basic and advanced practices activists can use to increase the likelihood that
their footage can serve as evidence in the criminal and civil justice processes. This Field Guide serves
as a reference manual for citizen witnesses and human rights activists as they seek to use video not
only to document abuses, but also for the ambitious end goal of bringing perpetrators to justice and
freeing the falsely accused.
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