Human rights abuses are extremely common in the world today. Almost always the perpetrators deny having committed the abuses, and the stories tend to become buried and forgotten. How can the victims prove to others what has actually happened? At a TED conference in 2006, musician Peter Gabriel talks about how he became involved in seeking an answer to this question after becoming involved in the world of Amnesty International.
It seemed that whenever there was a video or film camera around, it was a great deal harder for the people in power to deny and bury the stories of human rights abuses. The Rodney King incident in Los Angeles, in which police were videotaped assaulting a suspect, and the ensuing public outcry, demonstrated the power of video in protecting against human rights abuses. If you have a camera in the right place at the right time, you can do something about being heard.
In 1992 Peter Gabriel became co-founder of WITNESS, a non-profit group that equips, trains and supports locally-based organisations worldwide to use video and the internet in human rights documentation and advocacy. The organisation has given out cameras in over 60 countries, and helps activist groups to tell their stories. Technological innovations are helping the organisation: videos can now be captured on mobile telephones.