A willingness to embrace new challenges with HURIDOCS’ partners while ensuring continuity and quality in our work and products.
Some travelling will be required, but Geneva will be the base for the most part of the working time.
An open management style, with regular contact and ongoing communication and dialogue with all staff members regardless of their physical location. [HURIDOCS employs 17 staff members with a total of 13 full time positions with many staff members operating remotely]
General Duties include:
Lead strategic planning and implementation of strategy
Fundraising
General management of HURIDOCS resources, including financial and human resource
Representing HURIDOCS to the human rights community, and to the public at large
Maintaining knowledge of the needs in relation to information and documentation of organisations in the human rights space, as well as an understanding of technology trends and directions from a management perspective
Specific Duties:
Overall supervision and guidance of the software development process
Identifying and understanding the needs of the organisations HURIDOCS serves, and available opportunities
Cultivating the ground for HURIDOCS‘ powerhouses’ – organisations in different regions to serve as focal points for HURIDOCS’ human rights solutions in different regions of the world
Qualifications:
University education: Preferably at least a master’s degree in a discipline relating to the work of HURIDOCS, or its equivalent in a relevant field
A background in the Human Rights environment and knowledge of how legal systems operate is highly desirable
An ability to communicate about complex topics in engaging ways
Skills include:
Proven ability to raise funds and to secure strategic relationships with key actors (Required)
Fluency in both written and spoken English and proficiency in another language (Required)
Familiarity with different types of technology and their application in a human rights context (Required)
Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to manage a diverse international and multicultural workplace (Required)
Ability to lead negotiations (Required)
Experience:
Experience in the successful management of a non-profit organisation (Required)
At least 5 years experience in the human rights field (Strongly desired)
The new Executive Director should be in place in Geneva in January 2017. Visit www.huridocs.org for more information. If you have any specific questions you may contact HURIDOCS Board Member Douglas Arellanes at douglas.arellanes@huridocs.org. Your application and CV should be sent to edrecruitment@huridocs.org no later than 15 October 2016.
Uwazioffers powerful browsing & searching, ability to define your own document properties, create cross references between documents and mobile first development.
Uwazi is an open-source solution for building and sharing document collections, empowering NGOs and networks, universities, foundations, and courts to publish and share their knowledge
Ahmed Mansoor, the Laureate of the Martin Ennals Award 2015, was the target of a major hacking attempt. Fortunately it received global coverage on 26 and 27 August 2016 and Apple has immediately issued a security update to address the vulnerabilities. [For those with Iphones/Ipads, you may want to update your IOS software to 9.3.5!]
Image copyrightAP – human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor
The flaws in Apple’s iOS operating system were discovered by Mansoor who alerted security researchers to unsolicited text messages he had received on 10 and 11 August. They discovered three previously unknown flaws within Apple’s code that meant spyware could be installed with a single tap. Apple has since released a software update that addresses the problem. The two security firms involved, Citizen Lab and Lookout, said they had held back details of the discovery until the fix had been issued.
The texts promised to reveal “secrets” about people allegedly being tortured in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s jails if he tapped the links. Had he done so, Citizen Lab says, his iPhone 6 would have been “jailbroken”, meaning unauthorised software could have been installed. “Once infected, Mansoor’s phone would have become a digital spy in his pocket, capable of employing his iPhone’s camera and microphone to snoop on activity in the vicinity of the device, recording his WhatsApp and Viber calls, logging messages sent in mobile chat apps, and tracking his movements,” said Citizen Lab. The researchers say they believe the spyware involved was created by NSO Group, an Israeli “cyber-war” company.
The spyware would have been installed if Mansoor had tapped on the links. Image copyright CITIZENLAB
DatNav, a guide designed to help human rights defenders navigate and integrate digital data into your human rights research, was launched today.
DatNav is the result of a collaboration between Amnesty International, Benetech, and The Engine Room which began in late 2015 culminating in an intense four-day writing sprint facilitated by Chris Michael and Collaborations for Change in May 2016. Based on interviews, community consultations, and surveys the researchers found that in the vast majority of cases, human rights defenders were not using the tools. Why? Mainly, human rights researchers appeared to be overwhelmed by the possibilities.
Still, integrating and using digital data in a responsible way can make a huge and important difference to human rights research. Acquiring, disseminating and storing digital data is also more in reach. DatNav is about navigating these new possibilities.
In May 2016, the 3 NGOs gathered a group of experts to create a guide to help address this problem, and created the foundations of DatNav. Nearly 70 key members of the human rights tech and data community, representing nearly 40 different organisations from around the world, played key roles in the creation of DatNav.
This is just the beginning. If you’re interested in taking the guide forward, whether to inform strategy in your work, to train others, or through translations, or adaptations of the content, the organizers would like to hear from you. The content is all CC-BY-SA licensed and remixes of the content are more than welcome. We’re in initial talks to release an Arabic translation of DatNav, and we’d like to carry out others, too.
You can sign up for The Engine Room’s newsletter to be notified of new updates and releases.
To find out more about the project or give feedback, you can send an email. You can also reach out on Twitter @zararah and The Engine Room @EngnRoom.
After more than 5 years as Executive Director and over 10 years at HURIDOCS (he joined as training officer in January 2006) Daniel D’Esposito will leave the organizations on 1 October 2016. He joined the organization when it was in a very difficult position but managed to bring it back to be the key documentation network on human rights. Eddie Halpin, HURIDOCS Chair: “I need to pay particular thanks to Daniel. His achievements are amazing, his strength incredible, and his passion frightening; I do not think anybody else could possibly have brought HURIDOCS, to where it is and I am honoured to have shared in some of that with him.” He encourages you to watch the HURIDOCS mailing list so as not to miss the vacancy announcement.
In an era of rapid technological innovation and increasing access to new data sets, the possibilities for reconceptualizing and revolutionizing our ability to document human rights violations are vast. These new and emerging tools, resources and data streams provide exciting opportunities for human rights defenders.
The upcoming Responsible Data forum (RDF) looks to build upon the ethical, privacy and security challenges posed by the use of new & emerging data sets and new technologies in human rights documentation. This event will build off of the discussions started the 2015 RDF on Human Rights Documentation in Manila, in particular building on the tools & resources started there. This RDF will be a hands-on and collaborative event, focused on developing concrete resources and strategies to ensure that human rights documentation efforts are bettered by technology and data without causing undue or unforeseen harm.
New challenges and questions. Are we taking advantage of these new technologies and data streams to actually enhance our work? Do we sometimes use new kinds of data simply because it seems to enhance our credibility but doesn’t actually change our documentation? Are our project planning systems changing as a result of these new tools and resources? Should they? What can we learn from each other about how to helpfully engage with new and emerging technology and data? How can we tell the difference between innovation and tech & data exuberance? How should we weigh the potential benefits of experimenting with new technology and data versus the potential risks and harms that could occur?
[The Responsible Data Forum is a collaborative effort to develop useful tools and strategies for dealing with the ethical, security and privacy challenges facing data-driven advocacy. This is not a talk-shop. This RDF will bring together a small group of experts, practitioners and policy specialists to have a frank and open discussion about challenges with responsible data in data visualization. It is not about ‘naming and shaming’ but about being open about past experiences and building from them to better support the broader community. This event will employ a participatory methodology that enables participant collaboration on the development of actual tools and resources such as guidelines, checklists, frameworks and hopefully creative tools we haven’t yet thought of! A key outcome of this event will be the sharing of the developed tools with others outside of this event to promote and test the content, and develop further iterations.]
New Tactics in Human Rights is currently having an on-line conversation on “The Use of Photography in Advancing Human Rights“. It lasts until 26 June.
Photography (as images in general) is a powerful tool that can create awareness and effect change. The visual narrative created through photographs can move individuals to a place and understanding of people, geographies, and events that would otherwise be impossible. Used as a tool to document, educate, move, and inform, photographs can be a powerful resource in the efforts of human rights practitioners when used effectively and ethically.
The video clip above is an introduction to “Geneva Call” which is an impartial non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting respect by armed non-State actors (rebels, guerillas, liberation movements, self-proclaimed authorities) for international humanitarian law. In 2015, it is engaging in dialogue with more than 50 armed non-State actors around the world. [www.genevacall.org]
On 19 May 2015 (from 18:00 – 19:00 at the Villa Moynier, 120B rue de Lausanne, Geneva) it is launching a new application “FIGHTER NOT KILLER QUIZ”, mobile technology in the interest of law and the protection of civilians, which could be a useful tool in the hands of human rights defenders working in areas of conflict.
(Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems, International) has started its search for a new Executive Director as envisaged in my post of 5 August: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/08/05/daniel-desposito-huridocs-executive-director-announces-his-departure/.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 