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Human Rights: New Challenges and Applications
International human rights organizations have grown up alongside with the Internet. For several decades, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and their many counterparts have explored new methods for
- gathering research,
- connecting local and international organizations,
- and building financial and political support for their initiatives.
The next generation of technology will create more opportunities, but it will also present new challenges for verification of data and defining norms of censorship and control.
Table of Contents: (See below for descriptions)
1. What Human Rights Organizations Can Achieve From New Media
2. New Media and Documenting Human Rights Abuse in the occupied Palestinian territories
3. Videoconferencing and Low-cost Wireless Networks Improve Vision in Rural India
4. The Potential for Migrant Workers' Social Networking in the Persian Gulf
5. Freedom of Expression Issues on the Internet in Turkey
The topics including in this section address two principal themes:
A. How new media applications present valuable tools for human rights organizations to promote awareness of human rights issues.
What Human Rights Organizations Can Achieve From New Media
shows novel ways human rights groups use text messaging and Web 2.0 to gather support and raise awareness for human rights issues.
New Media and Documenting Human Rights Abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
explores the use of innovative media tools through the lens of human rights.
B. How new media can buttress additional human rights, including the right to health care, and the right to fair labor and social integration.
Videoconferencing and Low-Cost Wireless Improves Vision in Rural India
describes how wireless networks transcend the boundaries of urban and rural regions.
Migrant Workers' Social Network in the Persian Gulf
proposes a social network for marginalized migrant laborers to increase an awareness of legal rights and promote community engagement.
Freedom of the Internet in Turkey
explores censorship of the internet as an example of how civil and political rights can be violated.
To learn more about human rights at Columbia, see:
Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University
