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A major role of the ongoing Martus mission is to participate in the dialog concerning the roles and contributions of technology to one of the most critical social issues of our times – human rights.
Press Releases
Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman's Office Uses Martus in their National Police Archives Project - June 4, 2007. The Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman's Office is using Martus to securely manage information from the National Police Archives, the largest single cache of documents that has been made available to human rights investigators in history. Click here to read a photo essay Benetech has created about the project and its historical significance.
Patrick Ball Receives 2005 EFF’s Pioneer Award - April 19, 2005. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) presented Dr. Patrick Ball with a Pioneer Award at their 14th Annual Pioneer Awards presentation on April 13, 2005. Click here to read the press release.
State Department Funds Martus - June 6, 2004. The United States Department of State has provided funding to support the introduction of the Martus Social Justice Monitoring technologies to NGOs in Africa. Click here to read the press release.
Human Rights Data Analysis Group Joins Benetech - November 3, 2003. Benetech announced today that the world's leading statistical analysts of human rights have joined Benetech. "Moving to Benetech will help us deepen our technical capacity so that we can provide greater support to evidence-based arguments in human rights," said Dr. Patrick Ball, director of the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG). Dr. Ball and HRDAG previously collaborated with Benetech on Martus. The merger of HRDAG's data-centric field experience with Benetech's software development expertise is expected to strengthen Benetech's efforts in the human rights and social justice sectors. Click here to read the press release.
The Benetech Initiative Releases The Martus Human Rights Bulletin System - January 15, 2003. The Benetech Initiative, a Silicon Valley nonprofit, today announced the release of The Martus Human Rights Bulletin System, an open source technology tool designed to assist human rights organizations in collecting, safeguarding, organizing and disseminating information about human rights abuses. Click here to read the press release.
Articles About Martus
Article on open source technology in the fight for human rights features Martus and Analyzer - March 21, 2007. Independent Online Technology, a South African webzine, features Benetech technologies Martus and Analyzer in its article, Open Source used in fight for human rights.
Article highlights Martus project in Guatemala - February 7, 2007. The IDG News Service interviewed Jorge Villagrán of the Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman Office, which is using Martus to manage and encrypt information from the Guatemalan National Police Archives. The Archives contain an estimated 80 million pages of official documents detailing the activities of the National Police during Guatemala’s 36-year internal conflict. The story, Digging for the Truth, discusses the historical significance of their work and the ways the Ombudsman Office is employing Martus technology to secure the information in the Archives for future analysis and dissemination.
Article highlights Martus use in Southern Africa - February 2006. The Digest of the Open Society Initiative for South Africa has posted an extensive story about Martus use in Southern Africa. The story, Information Communications Technology For Human Rights in Southern Africa, points to a recent survey that assessed the use of Martus in Southern Africa by human rights organizations, particularly women's NGOs.
Articles highlight the Martus project in the Philippines
Recent articles in the Philippines media discuss Martus usage:
- 'High tech' reporting focal vs human rights violations -CHR, Minda News
- Martus project is back, Philippine Information Agency
- RP ahead in human rights observance, says CHR, Philippine Information Agency
- Human rights agency gets software for database of cases, Sun Star
New Tactics in Human Rights highlights Benetech's Human Rights Program in the following interview. Benetech interview
Tectonic, Africa's first open source magazine, features Martus and Martus users in Kenya in the following article. Free software working for human rights
Linux Today reprinted the Tectonic article that features Martus and Martus users in Kenya. Tectonic: Free Software Working for Human Rights
OneWorld.net highlights Martus - OneWorld, an online media gateway for informing a global audience about human rights and sustainable development, has highlighted Martus in the following article: Martus - Technology for Human Rights.
Martus Introduced at WITT Conference in Amsterdam - International human rights lawyer Susan Bazilli informs the Women’s Information Technology Transfer (WITT), a "Regional Initiative of Women's Groups for Promoting Information Communication Technology as a Strategic Tool for Social Transformation," about Martus, Benetech's open source software tool used for monitoring human rights violations. Read more here.
Martus Case Study in Africa - OpenSourceAfrica has written a case-study about Martus use by the Kisima Peace & Development Organisation, a human rights group in Somalia. Read the case study here.
Martus Coverage in Bangkok Post - Thai newspaper the Bangkok Post recently published an article announcing the introduction of Martus to Thai NGOs. The article is available online here.
Martus Makes Technology Headlines - The May 31, 2004 issue of the San Jose Mercury News features a major article on the Martus Global Social Justice Monitoring System in its Technology section. Read the article here (may require free registration).
GeoWorld on Martus and GIS - GeoWorld magazine looks at how the combination of Geographical Information System technology and the Martus Human Rights Bulletin System can fight human rights abuses. Read the article here.
Business Week Online, August 19, 2003. In a Special Report on Solving Social Problems, an article on Technology with Social Skills highlights Martus use in the Philippines. Read the article online.
San Francisco, CA, April 14, 2003: Placing people before profit: Palo Alto's Benetech sets out to help human rights organizations save lives. Can technology save people from brutality? Benetech says yes: using the Martus Human Rights Bulletin System. Read the San Francisco Chronicle article here.
Articles of Interest
Article features Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman’s project — February 4, 2007 — The IDG News Service interviewed Jorge Villagrán of the Guatemalan Human Rights Ombudsman Office, which is using Martus to manage and encrypt information from the Guatemalan National Police Archives. The Archives contain an estimated 80 million pages of official documents detailing the activities of the National Police during Guatemala’s 36-year internal conflict. The story, Digging for the Truth, discusses the historical significance of their work and the ways the Ombudsman Office is employing Martus technology to secure the information in the Archives for future analysis and dissemination.
MacArthur Award Attracts Press — October 16, 2006, Palo Alto, CA — Since Benetech CEO Jim Fruchterman was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship last month, both he and Benetech have been the focus of increasing media coverage. Profiles of Jim have appeared in the San Jose Mercury News which published a news story, a column and a business section feature story which describes Martus. Forbes also wrote about Jim noting that he is "one of a handful of people at the forefront of starting not-for-profit technology companies."
Benetech Reaps Benefits From Free Software — October 6, 2006, Palo Alto, CA — Patrick Ball, Benetech CTO and Human Rights Program Director, was interviewed by NewsForge about Benetech's use of free software. The story, High-tech Social Enterprise Reaps Free Software's Benefits notes Benetech's use of Ubuntu and other well-designed free software tools. NewsForge is the online newspaper for the Linux and Open Source community.
Benetech: Using technology to improve human rights. Grantee profile in MacArthur, a newsletter of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Summer 2005, Vol. 2.
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation just published an article on Benetech's human rights program in their newsletter. The Foundation has been a steady supporter of our work in the human rights field, and they recently renewed that commitment with a three year, $800,000 grant to Benetech.
Our human rights program is meeting its sustainability plan thanks to support from people like MacArthur. Our costs are covered by a combination of core support and project-specific funding that we raise in partnership with other human rights groups. Multiyear support for our human rights programs is especially helpful, as it provides us with continuity as well as the ability to invest in core capabilities such as software development for which no one customer can bear the cost. Our goals with core funding, such as the MacArthur support, is to expand our ability to strengthen the global human rights movement with science and technology to make the case for human rights as strong as possible.
We appreciate the support from the MacArthur Foundation, and we look forward to three very productive years! Read profile here.
Doing a Number on Violators by Robert Lee
Hotz. LA Times (03/14/02)
Patrick Ball has pioneered the use of databases to expose atrocities.
For three years, Ball traveled back and forth to Kosovo, systematically
culling data on civilian deaths from refugee reports, exhumations and
witness accounts. Building on that evidence, he and his colleagues compiled
a database documenting the ebb and flow of "ethnic cleansing"
of ethnic Albanians during the spring of 1999 in Kosovo. The statistical
portrait of the displaced, missing and killed reveals the timing and ferocity
of fatal blows that fell across an entire province. This numerical pattern
of death and panic exonerates some people; it points toward others. Learn
more here.
Open Source Plan Could Aid Torture Victims. In this CNET article, writer Lisa Bowman describes the Martus Project and Jim Fruchterman's vision for Benetech. Learn more here.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, the full text of this Declaration appears on the web site of the United Nations.
Following the adoption of this Declaration, the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories."
Add to this List
If you know of other sources of information concerning the documentation of human rights abuse or the benefits of data aggregation in this area, please let us know.
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Copyright © 2002-2006 Beneficent Technology,
Inc. (Benetech). The "Martus" mark is a trademark of Beneficent Technology, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, as to which registration is pending in a number of countries. Use of the shorthand reference "Martus" on these web pages is for convenience only, and should not be taken as a generic or descriptive term. Please respect our trademarks. Trademarks of other companies may be used herein and we make no claim to ownership of them. |
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