Problems from Hell, Solution in the Heavens?: Identifying Obstacles and Opportunities for Employing Geospatial Technologies to Document and Mitigate Mass Atrocities

Authors

  • Ben Yunmo Wang Tufts University/Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
  • Nathaniel Raymond Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
  • Gabrielle Gould Georgetown University Law Center
  • Isaac Baker Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5334/sta.cn

Keywords:

Commercial Satellites, International Criminal Court

Abstract

At the evolving frontier of modern humanitarianism, non-governmental organizations are using satellite technology to monitor mass atrocities. As a documentation tool, satellites have the potential to collect important real-time evidence for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, the field remains experimental and ill-defined, while useful court evidence cannot be produced without a standard methodology and code of ethics. Members of the groundbreaking Satellite Sentinel Project review the historical development of satellite documentation and some of its landmark projects, and propose necessary measures to advance the field forward.

Author Biographies

Ben Yunmo Wang, Tufts University/Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Ben Yunmo Wang is a bachelor of arts (B.A.) candidate at Tufts University, pursuing a double-major in International Relations and Political Science. This paper stems from research he conducted while working as an imagery analysis intern at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, as part of the core operations team at the Satellite Sentinel Project and then the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology.

Nathaniel Raymond, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Nathaniel Raymond has over a decade of experience as a human rights investigator specializing in civilian protection during complex humanitarian disasters, the treatment of prisoners in national security settings, and crimes of war. He is director of the Signal Program on Human Security and Technology at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI). From December 2010 until the summer of 2012, he was director of operations for the Satellite Sentinel Project based at HHI, which received the 2012 United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation's Industry Intelligence Achievement Award. Raymond was a 2010 Rockwood Leadership Institute National Security and Human Rights Reform Fellow. Previously, Raymond served as Director of the Campaign Against Torture at Physicians for Human Rights, as well as lead investigator into the 2001 Dasht-e-Leili massacre in Northern Afghanistan. He was lead author of the 2010 report "Experiments in Torture: Human Subject Research and Evidence of Experimentation in the 'Enhanced' Interrogation Program," which was the first peer reviewed paper to show evidence that detainees interrogated by the CIA after 9/11 apparently underwent illegal human subjects research. The report’s allegations were examined as part of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's probe of detainee abuse by the CIA.

Gabrielle Gould, Georgetown University Law Center

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Isaac Baker, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Isaac Baker is the Imagery Analysis Manager for the Signal Program at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative. Mr. Baker started his career in war crimes investigations at Physician's for Human Rights, working on cases of abuse against detainees in CIA custody during the Bush Administration. He later joined the Satellite Sentinel Project at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative as the Imagery Analysis Manager in 2011.

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Published

2013-10-22

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 3 (2013)

Section

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