Ten years ago, in 2015, the IBA established the eyeWitness to Atrocities app in order to address a significant challenge in international justice: the lack of verifiable, court-admissible evidence of atrocity crimes such as war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

Despite an abundance of footage and photos of potential atrocity crimes, such media was often inadmissible for a number of reasons – for example, the integrity or the ‘chain of custody’ (proving where and when media was captured and its journey since that point) of the recordings could not be assured, thus the evidence carried the risk of doctored material or information.

The eyeWitness app was born out of a powerful idea: that technology could help bring justice to victims of the world’s worst crimes. So, eyeWitness partnered with LexisNexis to create a tech-driven solution – an app designed to help human rights defenders, journalists and civilians document and report atrocity crimes in conflict zones and high-risk areas in a way that ensures the evidence can be used in legal proceedings at the highest level.

IBA President Jaime Carey said of the milestone: ‘As we mark a decade of eyeWitness to Atrocities, we celebrate ten years at the intersection of technology, law and human rights. This initiative reflects the IBA’s unwavering commitment to justice and accountability […] I reaffirm IBA support for this vital work and its enduring impact on the global pursuit of justice.’

The app contains several security features, appropriate for use in conflict environments: it works in low-connectivity settings, allows for anonymous, encrypted submissions to the secure server and does not share any data with third parties. It also allows for users to change the app’s icon to make it harder to identify and has a quick access uninstall feature to delete the app and all of its contents, should this be necessary.

The dedicated eyeWitness team of five in London is supported by pro bono lawyers from top firms to help analyse submissions. This creates a full pipeline from documentation to legal action.

IBA Executive Director Mark Ellis, closely involved with eyeWitness since its inception, reflected: ‘In a world where impunity often thrives in the absence of credible evidence, eyeWitness plays a critical role in bringing truth to light and ensuring that justice is not just a distant ideal, but a real possibility.’

Over the past decade, footage captured using the app has contributed to numerous cases and reports globally, including in a military tribunal in the Democratic Republic of Congo where two commanders were convicted of historical crimes against humanity, in compensation claims in Ukraine and in evidence submissions to several UN Special Rapporteurs and periodic reviews before the UN Human Rights Council.

Beyond this, eyeWitness has delivered more than 900 training sessions globally including in active conflict zones.

Carrie Bowker, eyeWitness to Atrocities Director, commented: ‘The path from documentation to justice is not always straightforward, and as we mark this milestone, we are deeply grateful to the courageous documenters capturing critical evidence of atrocity crimes, to the law firms that provide invaluable pro bono support and to LexisNexis for securely storing footage captured with the app. We aim to continue connecting frontline documenters with legal and investigative bodies that can act on the evidence they collect.’

Find out more at the eyeWitness website.

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