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Developments within the remote sensing and geospatial technologies fields have enabled human rights organizations to more effectively monitor, advocate for, and prosecute atrocities and other human rights violations around the world. A variety of such developments and changes have recently come to the fore, notably the establishment of a constellation of high-resolution observation platforms. These satellites are allowing non-governmental organizations (NGOs) the ability to detect and respond to human rights violations as never before. Properly equipped, NGOs can complement, and sometimes exceed, formal responses from national governments and international bodies to the full range of human rights violations.
The primary technique we have employed thus far is high resolution remotely sensed imagery. Remote sensing means examining properties from afar, by satellite-based sensors (cameras, radiometers, scanners), aerial photography, radar systems, sonar, lasers, radio frequency receivers, thermal devices, seismographs, magnetometers, gravimeters, scintillometers, and other sensing instruments. In this context, AAAS mainly uses panchromatic and multispectral satellite imagery which staff analyze either visually or quantitatively.
AAAS has found that satellites with resolutions of one meter or better are the best suited for human rights work. Violations that effect infrastructure and housing, in particular, or that require large build-ups of military, paramilitary, and police forces are especially visible to such satellites. At present, AAAS is drawing from several satellites, including:
- Ikonos-2, operated by GeoEye, has one meter panchromatic and four meter multispectral resolution. It has been in operation since 1999.
- QuickBird-2, operated by Digital Globe, has 60 centimeter panchromatic resolution and three meter multispectral resolution, making it suitable for assessing
individual structures as small as a few meters on a side. It has a nominal overpass frequency of three days, though in practice about one image a week seems to
be the most that can be expected. It has been in operation since 2001.
- OrbView-3, operated by GeoEye, has one meter panchromatic resolution and four meter multispectral resolution. It was launched in 2003, but unfortunately suffered a recent hardware failure that ended its operational lifespan.
- EROS-B, operated by ImageSat International, has 70 centimeter panchromatic resolution. It was launched in 2006.
In addition to this array of satellites, other platforms are of possible use. AAAS has yet to test the Resurs DK-1, operated by Sovinformsputnik, which has one meter panchromatic resolution. Likewise, the Korean KOMPSAT (one meter resolution), and the Indian IRS Cartosat-2 (one meter resolution), have not been utilized yet. Most importantly, two new highly anticipated satellites from DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, scheduled for operation in 2007, will provide 50 centimeter resolution imagery to non-governmental clients.
Other applications for high resolution remote sensing exist. AAAS is working
with an NGO partner to further apply well developed vegetation analysis methods
to the search for small scale unmarked graves in Colombia. Identifying such
grave sites, often on private and well guarded land, allows exhumations and
possibly identification of corpses as part of transitional justice efforts.
More broadly, this project uses high resolution imagery in its conflict assessment
activities in eastern Chad, Darfur, and Burma. For more information on these
cases, please see our Cases page.
Overall, this technique is proving highly effective in certain circumstances. However, the relatively long acquisition time for new imagery, often two weeks or more, hampers effective monitoring of events as they unfold. This limitation will be steadily reduced as more high resolution sensors become available. A short list of the advantages and pitfalls encountered when using high-resolution satellite imagery in our work is presented below:
Advantages
- High-resolution satellite imagery allows for the identification and monitoring of objects on the ground such as houses, fields, trucks and military bases
- The commercial and public availability of high-resolution satellite imagery since the launch of the GeoEye Corporation IKONOS sensor in 1999 allows for the acquisition of before and after image pairs for comparison for dates after 1999 and where archive imagery is available.
- Advances in computing, geospatial software applications and Internet technologies allow for easy sharing and dissemination of data among parties.
Limitations
- New images are not always obtainable immediately; factors affecting this include technical & environmental factors and the priorities of companies responsible for collections. This reality hinders the possibility of rapid imagery acquisition of human rights violations as they unfold.
- Often “before” images are not available for an area; not all areas of the globe are being imaged and archived on a regular basis; though over time, more and more area of the globe is being archived.
- Locating the sites of human rights violations depends on the availability of information disseminated by NGOs and others on the ground. There is no standardization in how such information should be presented; information can be inconsistent or can contain no geo-reference (i.e., geographic coordinates: latitude and longitude, UTM, etc) that allows AAAS researchers and others to identify the site of interest on the ground.
The number of satellite sensors monitoring our skies has been rising steadily and will continue to do so. We have compiled lists of current high resolution satellites as well as planned satellites and their technical specifications. Note that AAAS has received discounted images from the Digital Globe corporation and a generous imagery donation from the GeoEye corporation. AAAS also purchases imagery from both companies.
Ancillary datasets are used to help point the satellites to the locations specified by human rights organizations or news reports. A list of some of these ancillary datasets can be found on our Resources page.
Contact Us: To learn more about this project or to submit a request for assistance with a potential human rights related
case study.
(page updated 09/25/2007)
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