Human Rights Watch: Leveraging Technology for Human Rights in Ukraine

Welcome to HRW Silicon Valley’s Technology and Human Rights in Ukraine Event - we are so excited to have you!

Evening Schedule

• 5:30 - 6:30pm - Cocktail Hour in Courtyard
• 6:30 - 7:30 - Panel and Q&A in Auditorium
• 7:30 - 8:30 - Dinner in Courtyard

Drinks and appetizers will be available from 5:30 to 6:30pm during our cocktail hour. You will be able to reconnect with old friends and meet our Human Rights Watch researchers and special guests.

We encourage all guests to wear a mask while indoors for our seated program from 6:30 to 7:30pm, and no food or drink will be served during this hour. This part of our program includes a discussion with the featured panelists and a brief Q&A session, during which we welcome your engaged participation.  Once the program is over, you will be able to stretch your legs and head back outside for a relaxed and delicious outdoor dinner and a glass of wine among friends!

Meet our Panelists!

Sam Dubberley | Managing Director, Digital Investigations Lab, Human Rights Watch

Prior to joining HRW, Sam was the head of the Evidence Lab at Amnesty International where he conducted and led a wide range of open-source research, including the 2021 Webby Award-winning platform "Tear Gas: An Investigation". At Amnesty, Sam established and managed the Digital Verification Corps, a partnership between six global universities contributing directly to Amnesty’s open-source research. The project was awarded international collaboration of the year at the Times Higher Education awards in 2019, and the innovative teaching award from the University of Cambridge in 2021. Sam is a fellow of the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex and has been a fellow of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Colombia University. Sam was a founding partner of First Draft News, an organization established in 2015 to combat harmful misinformation.

Ida Sawyer | Director, Crisis and Conflict, Human Rights Watch

As HRW’s Director of Crisis and Conflict, Ida oversees and supports a team of researchers as they respond to global crises. Previously, Ida served as Deputy Director of HRW’s Africa division from 2018 until early 2022, and was HRW’s Central Africa Director prior to that. In 2021, Ida was a Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center in Washington, D.C., focusing on pro-democracy efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In 2020, Ida was HRW’s Acting Director of Crisis and Conflict, overseeing the team’s response to crises like Russian and Syrian strikes on civilian infrastructure in northwest Syria, aid obstruction in Yemen, and police crackdowns on protests across the U.S. following the killing of George Floyd. Ida has authored numerous Human Rights Watch reports and has written for publications including The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Carmen Cheung Ka-Man | Executive Director, Center for Justice and Accountability

Carmen is a lawyer based in San Francisco. She specializes in human rights litigation and has wide-ranging experience engaging in human rights advocacy around the world. At the Center for Justice and Accountability, she works with survivors and their communities to seek truth, justice, and redress for crimes against humanity, war crimes, and other atrocities through innovative litigation and transitional justice strategies. Carmen has acted as counsel in significant public interest cases in the U.S. and Canada involving torture, extrajudicial killings, and war crimes, including litigation over the use of torture by the U.S. government. Prior to joining CJA, she was a Professor of Global Practice at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, where her research and teaching focused on security and human rights.

The Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA) is a San Francisco-based international human rights organization dedicated to accountability for torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other grave abuses. Using innovative litigation and transitional justice strategies, CJA partners globally with survivors and their communities to seek truth, justice, and redress for atrocity. 

Brad Samuels | Founding Partner, SITU

Brad is a founding partner at SITU and the Director of SITU Research—an organization that merges data and design to create new pathways for justice. SITU's work mobilizes an arsenal of technologies to identify and surface critical evidence and then shape it into a narrative driven by transparent, accurate sourcing. The work supports activists, advocates, and lawyers, bridging the gap between digital evidence and the communities that can best deploy them towards justice. Brad sits on the Technology Advisory Board for the International Criminal Court, the Advisory Board for the Carnegie Mellon's Center for Human Rights Science, the Advisory Board for Dartmouth's Wright Center for the Study of Computation and Just Communities and the board of The Architectural League of New York. He is a Fellow with the Urban Design Forum and teaches at the Cooper Union School of Art.

SITU Research is a visual investigations practice that mobilizes an arsenal of technologies to identify and surface critical evidence and then shape it into a narrative driven by transparent, accurate sourcing. Their work supports activists, advocates, and lawyers, bridging the gap between digital evidence and the communities that can best deploy them towards justice and accountability. 

Human Rights Watch: How We Work

Investigate | HRW investigates human rights abuses in 103 countries. Our researchers visit the site of violations to interview victims, witnesses, and alleged perpetrators on a range of issues. In closed or conflict-affected countries, we use our growing cache of digital tools, such as remote sensing and open-source analysis, and leverage the strength of our grassroots partnerships.

Expose | We have the capacity to activate media coverage and mobilize audiences to defend human rights. To disseminate our research, we publish our products in 60 languages and secure more than 400,000 media mentions annually. We give journalists free access to our products, which is crucial as newsroom investments in deep investigative reporting are on the decline. Our digital strategies rest on the idea that facts inform, but stories persuade. To win hearts and minds, we unite the credibility of our frontline research with the power of storytelling.

Change | Based in six continents, our advocates effect change by applying pressure where it counts. We advance practical policy solutions with those in power and apply targeted pressure on those who abuse or neglect human rights. We also sow alliances with partners in the movement, drawing on our common humanity.

For more on Human Rights Watch's work in Ukraine, check out our 6-month progress report here!

How is Human Rights Watch unique?

Human Rights Watch plays a crucial role within the global ecosystem for human rights. We have unparalleled access to those in power and reach an online audience of 13 million. Where journalists report the stories, we use our findings to agitate for reform. Where aid organizations provide immediate relief, we press for policy changes that address the root drivers of rights abuses, ensuring meaningful, lasting progress. When we succeed, our work can benefit hundreds of thousands, sometimes millions, of people.

Thank you to our Host Committee for this event!