Increasingly sophisticated and well-resourced political and economic actors are working together to develop and share new approaches and technologies to restrict public space, roll back fundamental rights, and lay the groundwork to commit atrocities out of the public eye. Even traditional human rights supporters are suppressing independent information, spreading disinformation, and implementing systems to black out communications during times of crisis.While local activists are organizing and innovating to challenge these developments, it is a struggle to keep pace with the savvy and wide-ranging counter-measures being implemented by perpetrators. This means that many of the world's most vulnerable populations still lack the tools or the security to systematically document the abuses they face. As a result, all too often human rights abuses and mass atrocities go unseen.
Videre works directly with oppressed communities in some of the world's most hostile environments, equipping them with the technology and training to safely capture compelling visual evidence of systematic human rights violations suffered by their communities. Over the last decade and across three continents, these networks have, through the use of verified ground-sourced footage, developed irrefutable counter-narratives to challenge efforts to misinform, distort, and politicize the truth.
Human rights violations, including political intimidation, occur unremarked in remote and impoverished communities.
Videre trains and supports defenders in safe and effective use of technology to gather evidence.
Oren Yakobovich’s mission is to bring violations to light and perpetrators to justice.
Videre releases evidence strategically to facilitate justice and deter future abuse.
Human rights abuses can no longer be carried out with impunity. Citizens are able to express dissent and challenge disinformation. Abusers are held accountable for their actions and potential abusers are deterred by the knowledge that their actions may be documented and made known to the world.
Media outlets, advocacy organizations, courts, governments and international organizations have the ability and knowledge to use local information and intelligence to detect, prevent, and stop human rights abuses and promote equality. Frontline communities have the tools and the means to securely hold leaders accountable.
Oren Yakobovich, Co-Founder and CEO of Videre, has been working at the intersection of human rights and filmmaking for more than 25 years. A social entrepreneur and Ashoka Fellow, he is a leading voice on the use of visual information to create sustainable change in areas of conflict. Joining the Israeli army at 18 and rising through the ranks, Oren later became disillusioned by the realities of military service and was jailed for refusing to serve in the West Bank. Upon release from prison, he joined the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem and developed ‘Shooting Back,’ a still-thriving video documentation project that has trained hundreds of Palestinians to use cameras to expose the abuses they face. In 2008, he co-founded Videre, and under his leadership the organisation has become a leading innovator in the use of technology to expose human rights violations in hard-to-access areas. Oren also serves on the International Criminal Court’s Technology Advisory Council.
Please note that due to the dangerous nature of Videre's work, critical elements of their work and geographical areas have been omitted, to ensure their team's safety is not compromised and to adhere to their strict security protocols.
Over the last decade, Videre has trained hundreds of activists and community leaders, and captured thousands of hours of footage of human rights violations and social injustice. Videre has found the evidence to expose abuses and hold the perpetrators accountable, including:
Catalyzing international response to a genocide.
Compelling corporations to respond to their complicity in forced evictions.
Exposing illegal arms trafficking between a national army and multiple armed groups.
Documenting systematic police corruption and violence, leading to concrete policy changes.
Supplying the UN with evidence of collusion between government troops and rebel groups, including use of child soldiers.
Uncovering money flows fueling racist and anti-democratic propaganda.
Providing critical evidence necessary to issue an arrest warrant for a notorious rebel leader.
