European Human Rights Advocacy Centre
By EHRAC
Find out more about our work at www.ehrac.org.uk
European Human Rights Advocacy CentreApr 04, 2022
Using OSI in Human Rights Litigation
In this episode, based on a recording of an online event from March 2, 2022, EHRAC Legal Director Jess Gavron talks to a panel of experts about the use of open source investigations (OSI) in human rights litigation. One week on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the discussion focusses on how Ukrainian and international civil society can harness OSI as a tool for current and future litigation efforts, outlining tools and best practice to use and challenges and risks to look out for.
Resources/tools mentioned
Witness: Video as Evidence Field Guide: https://vae.witness.org/video-as-evidence-field-guide/
CILRAP: Means of Proof: https://cilrap-lexsitus.org/means-proof-digest
Berkeley Protocol on Digital Open Source Investigations (in particular annexe III: digital landscape assessment template): https://humanrights.berkeley.edu/programs-projects/tech-human-rights-program/berkeley-protocol-digital-open-source-investigations
European Union Agency for Criminal Justice Cooperation: Prosecuting war crimes of outrage upon personal dignity based on evidence from open sources – Legal framework and recent developments in the Member States of the European Union: https://www.eurojust.europa.eu/publication/prosecuting-war-crimes-outrage-upon-personal-dignity-based-evidence-open-sources-legal
Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma: https://dartcenter.org/
Poland/ Belarus Border: A Protection Crisis (Amnesty International): https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2021/09/poland-belarus-border-crisis/
Articles mentioned
Finding the Signal in the Noise: International Criminal Evidence and Procedure in the Digital Age, Lindsay Freeman, Raquel Vazquez Llorente, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 19, Issue 1, March 2021, Pages 163–188
Power and Privilege: Investigating Sexual Violence with Digital Open Source Information, Alexa Koenig, Ulic Egan, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 19, Issue 1, March 2021, Pages 55–84
Open Source Information’s Blind Spot: Human and Machine Bias in International Criminal Investigations, Yvonne McDermott, Alexa Koenig, Daragh Murray Journal of International Criminal Justice, Volume 19, Issue 1, March 2021, Pages 85–105
Additional Resources, Tools and Training
Q&A: Using open source investigations in human rights litigation: https://ehrac.org.uk/en_gb/blog/qa-using-open-source-investigations-in-human-rights-litigation/
Digital Witness: Using Open Source Information for Human Rights Investigation, Documentation, and Accountability: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/digital-witness-9780198836070?cc=gb&lang=en&
Amnesty International online training course on Open Source Investigations for Human Rights: https://advocacyassembly.org/en/partners/amnesty/
Putting Principles into Practice: Mock Admissibility Hearing on Open Source Evidence (Part One: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq_m2POiVdw; Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yVgbKTEtMM)
Documenting During Internet Shutdowns: https://blog.witness.org/2020/02/documenting-during-internet-shutdowns/
Expert Witness with Prof. Aisha Gill
In this episode, Jessica Gavron and Alice Donald discuss the case of an alleged suicide of a young woman living within an honour based community in Georgia. Professor Aisha K Gill is a Professor of Criminology at University of Roehampton and is an expert in so-called 'honour crimes'.
Professor Gill provided expert testimony for the case to highlight the significance of honour based values and how this related to victim's death.
Please be aware that this episode contains distressing and disturbing details.
Litigating 'Article 18 cases'
Samantha Knights QC and barrister at Matrix Chambers, London, talks to Professor Philip Leach (Director of European Human Rights Advocacy Centre), Professor Başak Çalı (Co-Director, Centre for Fundamental Rights and Professor of International Law at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin and Chair of the European Implementation Network) and Rasul Jafarov, (Azerbaijani human rights defender and applicant in Jafarov and Others v Azerbaijan) about Article 18 in the European Convention on Human Rights and the challenges and opportunities about using this provision in strategic litigation at the European Court of Human Rights.
Instructing an Expert Witness with Dr John Clark
Dr Alice Donald, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Law and Politics leads a conversation with Jessica Gavron, EHRAC Legal Director, and Dr John Clark, Forensic Pathologist.
Expert witnesses can play a vital, even determinative, role in a case. An expert witness can explain and assess complex scientific or technical evidence or provide significant contextual analysis that can be central to the successful litigation of a case.
This podcast discusses a case which EHRAC, with Memorial Human Rights Centre, took to the European Court of Human Rights, concerning the Beslan terror attack on a school in 2004 in Russia. The Beslan school siege started on 1 September 2004 and lasted three days. On the third day, state security forces stormed the school. The siege and ensuing intense assault by the security forces, using tanks and flamethrowers, resulted in 331 deaths, including 186 children, and countless injuries.
Dr Clark acted as an Expert Witness for this case, and discusses his expertise in analysing causes of unexpected deaths. He has also been involved in investigations and giving evidence at the International Criminal Tribunal of former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Please be aware that this podcast contains distressing and disturbing details.
This podcast complements our Instructing Expert Witness Guide which provides assistance to lawyers as to why, when and how to instruct an expert in international litigation https://ehrac.org.uk/resources/ehrac-guide-to-instructing-expert-witnesses/