At @huridocs.org, we're committed to strengthening the digital security ecosystem, not just as observers, but by ensuring our tools actively support defenders. Hope you’ll join us!

#digisec #HRDs #digitalinfra

Webinar & launch of research report: Use of digital security tools by human rights defenders in African contexts | HURIDOCS Join the launch of the research report by Dr Tomiwa Ilori, exploring how human rights defenders in four African countries are using digital security tools to protect themselves and their work.

Want to dive deeper? Join our launch webinar Thursday, 24 July at 15:00 CET!

Hear Tomiwa present, plus reflections from defenders in DRC, Zimbabwe & Kenya. Register here 👇

🔗 huridocs.org/2025/07/webi...

3/ 🤝 Co‑design gap: Everyone agrees on the importance of co‑design—but budgets/headcount rarely match the ambition needed for meaningful inclusion.

#codesign #developers

2/ 🌍 Inclusive and civil society led infrastructure matters & should be supported. Tools must be affordable, accessible offline or in low-connectivity areas and in languages defenders actually speak.

#digitalinfra

My takeaways:

1/ 🔐 Embed security into dev: tools like Uwazi need to be reliable components of HRDs’ digital defenses even if built by orgs like HURIDOCS that aren't #digisec org per se

www.uwazi.io

📚 Two findings really stood out, especially for HURIDOCS:

Finding 4: Real digital security is more than #digisec specific tools, it must be baked into dev processes of ALL human rights tech.

Finding 5: We need infrastructure that’s affordable, offline-capable, and in local languages.

After years working in digital security for civil society & HRDs, I’m thrilled w this report by @huridocs.org @opentechfund.bsky.social fellow Dr Tomiwa Ilori. It launches Thursday, 24 July, & explores how HRDs in DRC, Kenya, Senegal & Zimbabwe use digital security tools. My thoughts in thread 👇

AI for Human Rights: Innovation, Integrity, and the Ethical Imperative | HURIDOCS HURIDOCS Executive Director reflects after the AI for Good Summit on the ethical use of AI for human rights documentation.

18/ The space is messy, political, and urgent. There’s harm, but also a lot of possibility.

Read here my interventions at the session organized by @Geneva platform @FPF

Thanks for reading 💬👀
huridocs.org/2025/07/ai-f...

Donate | HURIDOCS With your help, HURIDOCS will continue to support human rights defenders to mobilise information for justice and accountability.

17/ If you’re into open source, rights-based, civil society-led tech, check out HURIDOCS

We build documentation tools, including ML, but we are more than the tech. We are human rights activists. Wanna support? 💸 huridocs.org/donate/

16/ Also, should NGOs start offsetting the impact of our own AI use like we do with travel?

Feels like a convo worth having if we want to lead by example 🧾🌍

15/ There were a few shoutouts to open source but honestly, not enough.

We need open, rights-based tech more than ever. It’s one of the only real counterweight to Big Tech and a community more willing & able to center different prioritizations 🧠🛡️

14/ Right now, AI will lie to you before it says “I don’t know.” That’s not neutral, that’s by design.

What if we built systems & models that prioritized accuracy, sustainability or human rights over speed? 🤔

13/ Someone floated the idea of a “carbon offset” button or at least a prompt that tells you how much energy or water your query will use.

Click “run” or “rethink”? Imagine the difference a bit of choice could make 🖱️🌡️

12/ Use smaller models. Limit prompt length. Ask AI to keep it short.

Simple things can reduce impact and we need to learn & adopt these in our orgs if we use AI 🛠️

11/ We’ve got to start talking about infrastructure.

Existing data centers were not built for GenAI, which is why they suck up energy and water like there’s no tomorrow ⚡💧

Who’s building green, fit-for-purpose data centers? If you are, let us know!

10/ The session on “Innovations in Environmentally Efficient AI” gave me hope. It was the first time I’ve heard people share actual, practical ideas towards harm reduction. I’m a big fan of the realistic possibilities in harm reduction. @itu.int‬

9/Even when AI is being used “for good,” the supply chain behind it is still harmful. Let’s not pretend otherwise 🧱💸

8/It’s not about whether AI can be used for good.
The real question is: who has the power to make sure it actually is? 💥

Catherine Bracey, author of World Eaters: How Venture Capital is Cannibalizing the Economy, thank you for that one! ‪

‪7/@marietjeschaake.bsky.social‬ author of Tech Coup asked “Why are we still joking about politicians not understanding tech, but not laughing at, and calling out, big tech leaders who don’t understand democracy, governance or rule of law?”🙄 This one hit right.

6/ Everyone’s busy asking what the “future of work” looks like but what about the future of human rights work?

Our jobs are changing, our funding is under threat, we need to be active in defining what comes next 💼✊

5/ “Keep humans in the loop” only works if those humans actually understand what they’re dealing with. If we don’t train & empower people, we’re just deepening the digital divide.

How do we raise our sector’s collective knowledge and critical tech literacy around AI? 📉

UN AI summit accused of censoring criticism of Israel and big tech over Gaza war - Geneva Solutions A prominent AI scientist says she was pressured by the organisers of the UN’s flagship conference on AI to censor parts of her presentation that criticised Israel over its war in Gaza and the role of tech giants – hours before taking the stage.

4/Reminder: human rights are equal and indivisible. That includes freedom of speech.

The censorship of @abeba.bsky.social‬ for calling out Big Tech’s role in war and genocide, gave me the serious ick. That silenceing speaks volumes. 😒

genevasolutions.news/science-tech...

3/ In this space there is a lot of talk about frameworks for regulation, a shout-out to Peggy Hicks from #OHCHR who said: We don’t need a new framework. We already have one — international human rights.

Our job now is to apply it and enforce it ✅

2/The obvious doesn’t appear to be that obvious to many. There’s a serious contradiction at play here: we’re using AI to fight for human rights and climate justice… while the tech itself is harming both.

Is AI fundamentally incompatible with human rights? HT @abeba.bsky.social‬

1/ As I leave the #AIforGood Summit, here is a thread on my highlights, takeaways, and questions. There was A LOT going on at this summit but I focused on sessions centering human rights and the and environmental impact of AI 🧵🤖🌍

Wanna know more about what I said at the AI for Human rights: Smarter, Faster, Fairer Monitoring session at the #AIforgood Global Summit? Check out this new post based on my speaking notes. Reach out if any of it sparks a desire to talk!

💡How is human rights documentation evolving, and what must we let go of to move forward? 💡

HURIDOCS Senior Documentalist reflects on lessons from decades of practice and invites a reimagining of the work through collective stewardship. Read more ⬇️

huridocs.org/2025/07/huma...

This was one of the keynotes I was most excited for. Watching it online it was obvious the content had been scrubbed. Then finding out the extent of the censorship is infuriating & baffling. If this is not a space to have theREAL debates then what are we doing here? What is good if not free speech?

For my 1st post on Bluesky I am thrilled to provide you all with little antidote to the doomscroll... the HURIDOCS 2024 Annual Report! In it you will find inspiring stories of using information, data and solid documentation methodologies to support justice and advocacy initiatives around the world.