In a time where media are accused of enhancing voyeurism, like in the Big Brother case, and that the latest Google’s map service “Street view” raises privacy fears, Amnesty International and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) developed a virtual eye to look over and protect the population of Darfur.

The project “Eyes on Darfur” was funded by the Save Darfur Coalition (SDC), an organization which fights to raise public awareness about the ongoing genocide in the region. Amnesty International officials hope that it will increase pressure on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to help end the violence.

“Despite four years of outrage over the death and destruction in Darfur, the Sudanese government has refused worldwide demands and a U.N. resolution to send peacekeepers to the region,” said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International. “Darfur needs peacekeepers to stop the human rights violations. In the meantime, we are taking advantage of satellite technology to tell President al-Bashir that we will be watching closely to expose new violations. Our goal is to continue to put pressure on Sudan to allow the peacekeepers to deploy and to make a difference in the lives of vulnerable civilians on the ground in Darfur.”

According to Mona Younis, director of the Science and Human Rights Program at the AAAS, the initiative is an example of how science and technology can be applied to expose human rights violations. A number of satellite cameras monitor developments in 12 Darfur and eastern Chad villages to detect evidence of violent changes, 24 hours a day. The 12 villages are still intact but vulnerable to attacks of the Janjawid militia, the Sudanese government and armed opposition groups. Through the website, people worldwide are invited to keep an eye on the changes that might occur. The commercially available photos can show objects as small as two feet (about 61 centimetres) across, sufficient to witness the destruction of huts and other structures.

Last year, the same imaging program was used to demonstrate evidence that the government of Zimbabwe had destroyed a settlement west of the capital Harare, and that thousands of residents had been relocated, apparently as part of a concerted campaign targeting political opponents. In addition to the assessment of human rights violations in Zimbabwe and Darfur, the AAAS program has been used to survey Lebanon and is slated to focus on Burma.

The website includes a conflict analysis, eyewitnesses accounts and a call to sign the global petition urging world leaders to actively work to protect human rights in Darfur. Some of the archived satellite images show the villages before and after the beginning of the conflict and witness their near total destruction. “See for yourself” and take action with this media experiment against the genocide.

E. Delaini

Published: July 5, 2007