One of the key elements of our Sustainability Project announced earlier this year was to create a featured problem set for each RHoK event going forward that provides a series of highly curated, well-defined problems that have clear sponsors and clear paths to sustained impact. We are excited to begin introducing the featured problem set for RHoK June 2012. We will be announcing many of the featured problems through a series of blog posts here on RHoK.org, but you can always keep on top of the latest additions at our Featured Problem Set Page.
Each of the featured problems will have subject matter experts present at one or more RHoK events in June, but participation is not limited to those events. Coordination of work across different events will take place on the respective Pirate Pad and IRC channel for each problem. Those links will be present on the featured problem set page as well as the individual problem definitions.
Today we are introducing a series of human rights related problems surrounding immigration issues across the US-Mexico border and the Mediterranean Sea. These problem are sponsored by Amnesty International, the National Council of La Raza, the filmmakers of Who is Dayani Cristal?, and more.
Invisible Victims: Migrants Crossing Mexico into The United States
The Owner: Amnesty International representatives will be participating, as well as civil society organizations who work with shelters and migrants who have made the journey across Mexico. Subject matter experts will be present in San Francisco and Berlin.
The Problems: Every year, tens of thousands of women, men and children are ill-treated, abducted or raped as they travel through Mexico without legal permission as irregular migrants. The vast majority are headed for the US border in the hope of new life far from the crippling poverty they are fleeing. Their journey is one of the most dangerous in the world. Arbitrary detention and extortion by public officials are common. Many simply disappear without trace, kidnapped and killed, or robbed, assaulted and thrown off speeding trains. For those who survive the extreme insecurity and dangers of the journey through Mexico, reaching the US border brings its own hazards. Increased US immigration enforcement in certain border areas has pushed undocumented immigrants to use particularly dangerous routes through the US desert; hundreds of people die each year as a result.
The devastating abuses that take place against migrants is a cross border issue, involving both the United States and Mexican societies. But currently, their deaths, like their lives, remain largely hidden from view. For the families back home, there is little hope of ever finding out what happened.
How could technology, applications and digital services make the invisible visible with regard to abuses committed against migrants, and be used to support both migrants and their networks in a safe way, helping mitigate the risks and reduce the number of people who die each year?
- Aggregate and visualize data for advocacy: How can we make invisible crimes visible without putting migrants at risk? Data collection is vital in order to have a full and comprehensive analysis of the factors that contribute to deaths and abuses across Mexico and along the US border. The lack of such data is a serious barrier to determining the steps that need to be taken to mitigate the prevalence of migrant deaths along the border. Examples of this data include: abuses by smugglers, sexual violence, police and state abuse, and more.
Some example projects include (see the problem definition for more):- Create a simple, accessible digital system to provide a means for the networks of civil society organizations and shelters on the ground who could/can/are collecting and capturing data to aggregate and share this information?
- Could we facilitate a form of ‘check in’, which migrants can do from specific safe points on their journey? (it is important to remember that most migrants will not be carrying any form of technology on their person)
- Relative/family support and missing persons: Families experience what psychologists term ‘Ambiguous Loss’, which means that the status of a loved one is in question – unresolved. The grief process cannot start because the person is neither dead nor alive. Families often report debilitating fear and an inability to focus on daily tasks. At any point in their ‘normal’ day, their loved one could be suffering somewhere without help. The search often becomes all-consuming. And without an organized system for searching, families are left to do it alone.
Relatives and families are a key audience and are also more likely to have access to the web. How can we use existing social networks to connect up families with lost members on migrant crossings? How could we create a high security database that loved ones of migrants could access in order to be sure their family member is safe, or to track back to where they were last seen? Could we develop a lo-fi, social web based missing and unidentified person system to provide more reliable information to families whose loved ones disappear? Could we create a platform that supports knowledge transfer, allowing for posting missing members, sightings, news and locations?
- Information provision and distribution for migrants: Many people know they are risking their lives; they cross because of desperation and more information on risks would be unlikely to make a difference. On the other hand, there may be some people crossing for the first time and for whom it may be hard to conceive of the reality of the journey. Many others are deliberately misled by smugglers/traffickers who give false information about the risks i.e. that it is just a day’s walk, etc.
Could we create a platform that communicates risks to migrants through information and visibility, better planning information - where are the shelters, telephone numbers, water and food points? Could we make it accessible for them to find out information on their rights in specific states and regions e.g access to justice, support networks etc.
- Collaboration with Border Technologies: A lot of advanced technology hardware is available at the borders (‘smart’ border technologies, satellites, databases of digital fingerprints etc. Could this be used to the benefit of migrants, and not only to keep people out?
The Impact: Thousands of people would be directly supported by tools that facilitate information sharing and data and documentation collection on human rights abuses against migrants along this journey. We are strongly committed to tools that can be taken as foundation concepts to networks of on-the-ground organizations, as well as rights holders themselves, to invite their participation and expertise in a robust collaborative process of scrutiny, refinement and development. When and if a product is ready for market it will be because we have tested, trained and piloted widely with these networks and will likely continue in beta before scaling up to support other regions and contexts where this tool could play a role globally.
After RHoK: Amnesty have contacts with migrants’ rights networks in Mexico and the US. We will demo our project to them once we have a working prototype. We will take their feedback and iterate both externally and with internal stakeholders at Amnesty International until we have a project that is ready to be rolled out to the field. Amnesty will also be inviting collaborators to attend (either in person or virtually) at the global AI Digital Skills Share in London on the 5th July 2012.
Data Visualization on Hispanic Migration:
Shifting Perceptions on Labor Demand and Migrants' Rights
The Owner: This data visualization is owned by the leadership team producing the docudrama Who Is Dayani Cristal? Subject matter experts from WIDC and the project’s partner National Council of La Raza will be present in Washington, DC.
The Problem: What does the United States know about the role Hispanic migrants play in the US economy? What stories do we perpetuate about the labor demands that draw them to the US? And do we understand the injustices and challenges they face under our current system? We aspire to challenge and clarify the notion that migration is a threat to the US workforce and hope to provide a fresh perspective on the migrant experience and the realities of labor demands in the US -- a perspective more in line with today’s economic and social truths.
To do this, we wish to create a data visualization around labor demand and migrant rights. This will be an essential element of the social action campaign around the hybrid documentary drama “Who Is Dayani Cristal?, starring Mexican actor and activist Gael Garcia Bernal. We aim to create deeper engagement with the question of Hispanic migration and its role in our economy, shifting perceptions toward fairness and justice. Using the data sets provided, the goal is to create a data visualization, which provides a better understanding of the role of immigration in the US and creatively narrates:
- A portrayal of labor demands in the US over time
- The reasons behind people crossing the border
- The contribution of migrant workers on the labor landscape and their function in the economy.
The Impact: Every year tens of thousands of people leave their homes in Latin America in the hope of reaching the United States of America. The data visualization will help establish a greater understanding of their journey and contribution, to further legitimize and give protection to both documented and undocumented migrant workers, as well as highlight the correlation between immigration and a healthy economy and the dysfunction which exists within immigration & labor policies as they stand. The data visualization will be used by general audiences of the film, which we believe will number in the millions, as well as our non-profit partners and activists and organizations working toward migrant rights.
After RHoK: We intend this data visualization to be a strong element of the social impact campaign around the film, and will be a part of the film’s website, mobile app, and iBook. It will also be be used by our nonprofit partners and their extended network of rights and advocacy groups to use in their social action campaigns, helping them deliver data in a visually arresting style to legislators, policy makers and stakeholders including the public.