Without Impunity: July 1998

<html><head><title>Without Impunity #2 - July 1998</title></head> <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" vlink="#003366" link="#006699"> <center> <table><tr><td> <img align=left src="http://www.derechos.org/img/dere/im.gif" alt="WI" width=85 height=91></td><td> <center><br><h1><img alt="Without Impunity" width=345 height=72 align=middle src="../wi.gif"></h1> </td><td> <a href="../../" target="_top"><img alt="Derechos" src="../../img/dere/deresm.gif" border=0 align=right width=110 height=100></a></td></tr><tr><td> <font face="arial"> <a target="main" href="resources.html">Resources</a> </td><td>  </td><td> <p align=right><font size=+2><b>July 1998<br>V.I No.2</b></font></p> </td></tr></table></center> <br clear="all"> <blockquote> <blockquote> <table><tr valign=top><td width=40%> <dl><font face="verdana" size=-1> <p><h3>Articles</h3> <dt><li> <a target="_top" href="egypt.html">Silence in the Nile:</a></dt> <dd>Egyptian Freedom of Speech under Peril</dd> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="lanka.html">The Disappeared in Sri Lanka</a></dt> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="look.html">The Look</a></dt> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="german.html">Will There Be Justice for the Germans Disappeared in Argentina?</a></dt> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="revo.html">The Revolution of Dignity</a></dt> <p><h3>Made in America</h3> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="america.html">Vladimiro Montesinos</a> <p><h3>Prisoner Corner</h3> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="puig.html">Fray Antonio Puigjané</a> <p><h3>On-line Activism</h3> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="where.html">Where do I find...?</a></dt> <dd>...information on human rights violations in Copa Nueva?</dd> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="lidlip.html">Organizations at Derechos</a></dt> <dd>Italian League for the Rights and Liberation of Peoples </dd> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="min.html">Human Rights Site of the Month</a></dt> <dd>The University of Minnesota Human Rights Library</dd> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="online.html">The Online Activist</a></dt> <dd>Encryption: How to protect the privacy of your electronic mail and files</dd> <p><h3>Kids 4 Kids</h3> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="kids.html">Working Children</a></dt> <p><h3>Urgent Action</h3> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="ua.html">Minors Arrested in Bahrain</a></dt> <p><h3>Human Rights & Activism Tidbits</h3> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="cup.html">World Cup Bits</a></dt> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="un.html">UN Watch</a></dt> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="letter.html">Letters to the Editor</a></dt> <dt><li><a target="_top" href="bits.html">Other Tidbits</a></dt> </td> <td><blockquote><font face="arial"> <h2>From the Editors</h2> <H3>On Human Rights Activism Online</H3> <p> In today’s world the Internet is nearly ubiquitous. Seldom a day goes bye without some television, radio or newspaper headline referring to something happening on-line. Still, the Internet can be a scary place for novices - and human rights activists and organizations who are just getting their feet wet on-line may have a number of concerns that stops them from taking full advantage of all the Internet has to offer. As the Internet offers the potential of making the work of all human rights activists much easier and more effective, it’s very important to dispel such concerns. <p> The Internet allows you to do three basic things: communicate with others, seek information and publish information, but it allows you to do it often more cheaply, quickly and extensively than traditional means. The ability to communicate with people all over the planet, generally at little over the cost of a local phone call, is the most popular feature of the Internet. In addition to electronic mail (e-mail), there are mailing lists where you can discuss any topic in the planet (including human rights) and ask questions or solicit help from others. Real-time “chat” programs, which allow you the words you type to be immediately seen by those you are talking to, and vice-versa, allow you to discuss issues easily without the delay of e-mail. <p> Every day, the Internet becomes a greater resource for human rights information. Web sites of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (discussed last issue), and the University of Minnesota Human Rights Library put human rights materials at your fingertips such as reports and resolutions from international bodies that previously you could only access directly from the source, or through specialized libraries. Similarly, human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Peace Brigades International, Amnesty International and Derechos HR publish in-depth reports, timely press releases and actions about human rights violations all over the world. Academic and legal journals are beginning to publish at least some of their offerings on-line, thus providing you with analytical in addition to factual material, and on-line newspapers and radio stations from throughout the world allow you to follow the human rights situation in practically every region of the world. However, it’s important to note that not all material is available on-line. Sites such as the UNHCHR’s and the Human Rights Library do not have material older than a few years. Many human rights organizations have been slow or reluctant to publish their information on-line, and the ones that do often stick to publishing material in English. Most academic journals, moreover, are not on-line and word of mouth and conferences continue to be major means for communicating human rights information. Another significant problem is related to how difficult it can often be to find the human rights material you are looking for. In this regard, at least, we hope to be of help, check out the On-line Activist section of this magazine, and the human rights links section of our website (http://www.derechos.org/human-rights/links) for tips. <p> As useful as the communication and research aspects of the Internet are, it is its ability to turn all of us into publishers that is of unique importance to human rights activists. There is a saying that freedom of the press belongs to those who own the presses - the Internet allows all of us to be in that position. Here at last we have the opportunity to share our knowledge and ideas with people all over the world - including important and influential people - at very little cost to us (financially and from a time point of view). And indeed, letting people know about human rights and human rights violations is an intrinsic part of the work of most human rights organizations. Shining a spotlight on human rights abuses is the first and most elemental step towards ending them - that which can be done in silence, can be done with impunity. Most human rights organization are deeply aware of that, and already publish reports and bulletins uncovering the abuses they learn about. Putting these publications on the Internet is easy and allows people from all over the world to know about them. From knowledge comes action, and from action, solutions. Part of the beauty of the Internet is that you don’t really know who will access the information you post, whether it’ll be a high school student learning about human rights for the first time, a member of the press hoping for a hot story, members of international or government bodies looking for information for their reports on human rights, common people who want to learn what they can do to improve the countries and the world they live in, representatives from governments or military forces, who may be ashamed at what the world is learning about their own actions, and even people who had no interest on human rights whatsoever, and got to your site by mistake, but once there learn something, and perhaps became more concerned. We get visits from all these types of people at Derechos, and many others - people who, if not for the information we publish, would not know about the human rights violations we report. People who will not know about the ones YOU report, until you put your reports on-line. <p> Publishing human rights information on-line can be a difficult thing for some organizations, however. Some groups depend on the funds they collect by selling their publications, and fear that if these are available on-line their sales will go down. While we can’t offer any data to confirm or deny this, daily newspapers continue to flourish despite also publishing on-line versions, and the added exposure that the Internet can give you - by letting people know you exist - may help increase your sales, rather than decrease them. Some other groups are concerned about losing control of their information by posting it on-line. And indeed once you post a report on-line you no longer have control over it - you can digitally sign documents to ensure their integrity - but you don’t know what people will do with it, use it for good or evil. The same is true with your print publications. In general, the good that the publication of your information may bring is much greater than any potential harm. Another concern often voiced is that investment in the Internet may draw away from efforts done at the local level. This indeed is a legitimate issue. However, the costs of publishing information on-line are often very minimal. Web site space is available for free, it takes comparatively little time to convert a document already available in electronic format to HTML (the language understood by web browsers), and groups such as Derechos are always willing to give NGOs a hand in establishing their on-line presence. Furthermore, any investments you make now, especially in training people to use the Internet, will greatly pay in the future as this medium becomes more and more ubiquitous and you can no longer escape it. </td></tr></table> <hr> <center> <p> <a href="../left.html">DATE</A> | <a href="../subject/">SUBJECT</A> | <a href="../country.html">COUNTRY</a> | <a href="../pdf.html">PDF</a> | <a target="_top" href="../">HOME</a> | <a target="_top" href="../../">DERECHOS</a> | <a href="mailto:wi@derechos.org">E-MAIL</A> | <a target="main" href="../links.html">LINKS</a> </center> <hr> </body></html> </html>