Amassing Evidence: Applying Information Technology and Forensic Science

Amassing Evidence Human Rights Documentation Conference and Workshop

25th – 27th July, 2017, Seoul, Korea

Globally, there is a wide disparity between those with expertise and concrete experience using advanced technological methods, and those groups that lack experience and knowledge, but who see the need to adopt international best practices for human rights documentation. Moreover, many groups have collected evidence of human rights abuses, and yet struggle to find a voice for the data in the strict environment of national or international legal proceedings. This conference and workshop will provide participants with ways to ensure the data they collect is both admissible in courtrooms and serves the purpose for which it is intended.

Aims and Structure

This conference and workshop is the first of its kind to be organised by TJWG and is also the first conference in South Korea to cover these specific themes. The three-day event has four key aims:

  1. To serve as a launch-pad for an Asia-based human rights documentation coalition/hub for future capacity-building and information-sharing initiatives among Asia-based civil society documentation groups dealing with situations of human rights abuses. This will allow the possibility of holding future, similar events and workshops in the locale of member organisations.
  2. To expose human rights activists, human rights documentation practitioners and researchers to knowledge and expertise from other geographical settings, which may allow the opportunity for investigating mass atrocities and holding perpetrators accountable (conference and workshop focus).
  3. To provide practical training in consideration of the methodologies, tools and legal remedies applicable to situations where human rights abuses have occurred and are being investigated (workshop focus).
  4. To improve local public and media awareness of the possibilities offered by transitional justice, as well as to provide knowledge on the challenges of pursuing accountability for human rights abuses (conference and workshop focus).

The conference and workshops are not intended to be a comprehensive training programme in all aspects of the themes covered, but rather a thorough introduction, with key takeaways for participants to apply in their work. It is also intended that this conference serve as the first of a series of targeted training events to take place in other parts of Asia in the future, as part of a coalition/hub-creation initiative to facilitate closer working relationships between experts and practitioners in human rights documentation. Through selected case studies, examples of best practice, innovations, and insights on what not to do, participants will be able to reflect on their existing activities, improve systems, develop/apply new tools and explore more effective methods. Following the workshops, participants will be supplied with training notes based on the lessons from the workshop sessions.

Audience description

TJWG will invite a selection of international participants from societies in transition or post-transition, including human rights documentation practitioners and advocates. Local participants will include members of the press, human rights activists, human rights documentation groups, academics, lawyers and IT professionals, representatives of foreign missions in Seoul, and representatives of the South Korean government.

Materials

Download the conference proceedings: Amassing Evidence Conference Proceedings

Download the workshop Proceedings: Amassing Evidence Workshop Proceedings