2022 in review: The role of eyeWitness in bringing perpetrators of atrocity crimes to justice

eyeWitness’ 2022 impact results are here!

Through 17 submissions to relevant accountability mechanisms in 2022, eyeWitness made accessible to investigators verifiable photo, video and audio recordings exposing potential atrocity crimes – genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

Despite the commitment of states to protect populations at risk of atrocity crimes, violent incidents continued to occur in areas suffering increased political instability or war. This is most prominently illustrated by the case of Ukraine with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, where the eyeWitness to Atrocities app (App) was quickly adopted to document damage and destruction.

In 2022, the use of the App as an essential tool to document potential atrocity crimes increased exponentially. During the year, eyeWitness received 33,000 photos, videos, or audio recordings captured with the App by independent app users and our partners in high-risk areas or war-torn countries. Additionally, eyeWitness established 13 new partnerships with human rights defenders in five different countries across various regions. We also trained more than 200 human rights defenders from 10 countries for more strategic documentation.