Abstract
The emergence of user-generated evidence has revolutionized how atrocities and human rights violations are documented globally. Since 2011, when Syrian human rights defenders began documenting atrocities on their smartphones, a professional field has emerged around the collection, authentication, and preservation of digital evidence. However, this professionalization has created unintended consequences, as expertise and verification power shifted away from frontline communities to Global North institutions. This Article examines this tension through two case studies: the Rohingya Genocide Archive, and Nigeria's #EndSARS movement. These examples demonstrate both the power of locally-informed evidence collection and the challenges when verification skills remain concentrated among elite institutions. As the rise of synthetic media through generative artificial intelligence poses new threats to the practice of fortifying the truth through digital evidence, we urge collaborative work to ensure that frontline communities are empowered with locally relevant skills and tools to protect their rights.
External Links
https://cjil.uchicago.edu/about-cjil
Repository Citation
Rebecca Hamilton & Adebayo Okeowo,
Digital Evidence: Facilitating what and for whom?,
26
CHIC. J. INT’L L
241
(2025).
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/facsch_lawrev/2346