WITNESS has equipped and trained human rights defenders in the use of video for advocacy for over 15 years.   This period has seen tremendous changes in both the tools by which video is captured and the technologies through which it is disseminated.   Although video technology has seen huge advances during this time, concerns around safety, security, and consent have remained fairly constant as do many of the tactics around its use.  

Increasing access to video cameras in the form of mobile phones has allowed many more human rights defenders to capture video spontaneously at rallies, demonstrations, and crisis situations.   As these situations often arise organically and are made up of ordinary people without human rights training, it is important to make available an easily accessible and distributable guide that outlines the basic steps activists can take to protect themselves and the people they record, increasing the chances that these videos generate the desired impact.  

The Human Rights Mobile Video Training Tools are essentially:

1) A site accessible on the mobile web containing concise, actionable guidelines on the collection and distribution of human rights mobile video with links to:
2) Portable versions of these guides - optimized for a mobile interface and distributable via bluetooth.

Taking advantage of existing content and technologies, the Human Rights Mobile Video Training Tools project will attempt to replicate the process of   traditional "paper distribution" in a mobile context.   The technology is basic with low or no cost for the users, yet provides an immediate and scalable way to empower human rights defenders in the field.

The mobile distribution of the Mobile Human Rights Advocacy Guide is a first step in creating common standards for safety and security for practitioners and a common language of mobile video advocacy.