Good Surveillance: Satellites Watch for Human-Rights Abuses

Last week, Human Rights Watch released a report describing human-rights abuses in a remote area of Ethiopia. With that region closed to foreigners by the Ethiopian government, the report relies on a combination of eyewitness reports and commercial satellite imagery performed by the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Science and Human Rights Program. The report highlights the growing importance of commercial imagery in monitoring abuses in areas otherwise off-limits to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). We talked with the AAAS’ Lars Bromley, project director of the Science and Human Rights Program, about the history and future prospects for this application of technology.

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