Article 19 and WITNESS Launch Report on Potential for Video Evidence in Brazil

WITNESS is proud to announce the launch of “Video as Legal Evidence for Human Rights Cases in Brazil” [Portuguese] in partnership with global human rights organization Article 19.

While video, especially that taken by citizen witnesses with cell phones, continues to be a powerful tool in exposing lies and abuse by authorities, the justice system in Brazil (and in many places in the world) has yet to grasp or fully understand how to properly digest, analyze and process this new flood of evidence.

The tools we have to collect evidence are 21st century, but the institutions responsible for receiving and investigating this evidence to ensure justice are still operating in the 20th century.

The Brazilian report is part of our global Video as Evidence initiative to better understand the role of video for evidence and help activists, lawyers and human rights defenders video more strategically, effectively and ethically in their human rights cases. The Brazilian report is available in Portuguese only at this time, but our blog has a background article that outlines basic findings from the Brazilian context.

Read more here. And reporters with questions can reach WITNESS’ communications department here.