How we do it
Film, Verify, Expose
Gathering visual evidence is our core specialism, supplemented by other forms of direct documentation, such as witness testimony and environmental sampling.
We are driven by the demands and needs of activists and partners in impacted, often minority and marginalised communities to safely expose human rights abuses.
We work openly when we can and covertly when we need to.
We apply our skillset across a broad range of human rights, specialising in purpose-driven investigations and evidence gathering, physical and digital security, analysis and verification, and storage and archiving.
Unlike desk-based ‘open-source intelligence’ approaches, we gather information directly. Our teams are part of impacted communities, directly engaging those affected to ensure feedback and follow up.
Our evidence is admissible in legal proceedings, not only for reports. We put human faces to the data and add critical context, often corroborating or contradicting information gathered remotely.
How we keep people safe
“Videre’s work had a huge impact in bringing out rare footage, secretly filmed, exposing plans of abuses and the abuses that occurred in ruling strongholds and no-go areas for the
opposition. ”
“[Videre’s visuals] provide unprecedented insight…and a wealth of interesting information.”
We operate in hostile environments, so our approach to security is localised, and focuses on prevention and informed consent. Our teams work within their community, reducing suspicion, enabling access, and ensuring a deep understanding of context.
We take time to understand the level of risk that individuals and organisations are prepared to take, and we respect and work within those limitations.
Investigations and evidence gathering activities are planned in advance, with direct oversight from project teams, and with risk management approved by our Security Manager in line with our Risk Management Policy. Where we can safely be open about our work, we are.
The identities of some team members are restricted and all communications are kept secure through overlapping physical and digital methods. Our contingency planning is stress-tested and rapid local and international response is planned around direct support, legal and advocacy avenues.
When collaborating with partners, we respect their security risk management systems and work together for co-learning and improvement.
Locally led programming
Too often the human rights sector continues to reflect neo-colonial hierarchies, unequitable participation, and unjust ownership of resources and decision making.
We recognise our own role in entrenching these approaches and acknowledge there is more we must do to ‘shift the power’.
Our country teams are from communities we support. They are at the heart of programme design, strategy, and implementation.
We also ensure that partners, and the information they gather, are brought into the spaces where resource, legal and policy decisions are made, so their voices can have a direct impact.
