It is time for a radically different approach to human rights work. Mass killings, deforestation and climate-destroying illegal mining almost always take place in febrile security environments. At the same time, authoritarian governments are rolling back fundamental rights, criminalising legitimate dissent, harassing, attacking, arresting, and even murdering those who dare to raise their voice in protest.

Activists are organising and innovating to face these challenges. Yet all too often, intimidation and violence, persecution of marginalised groups, and direct attacks on civilian populations go unseen. Our teams and partners are in these places, using our methodology to uncover what others cannot.

Too often, ‘human rights’ work and journalism is remote and extractive, privileging international approaches and short-term advocacy. We believe that when abuses happen, evidence gathering and decisions on how to use the results must be in the hands of affected communities.

Our work pushes back against disinformation and the ability of artificial intelligence to obscure reality through hands-on evidence gathering, analysis and verification, enabling affected communities themselves to make decisions about legal cases, advocacy or media exposés, and to plan for transitional justice and peacebuilding.