Research project
Digital Verification Unit
Principal Investigator
Dr Sabina Garahan
The Digital Verification Unit works with Amnesty International and other partners to conduct investigations into human rights violations around the world, using open source techniques.
Recent advances in digital communications technology – and in particular social media and the spread of the smartphone – have revolutionized the practice of human rights. Victims of, and witnesses to, human rights abuses can now document their experiences and share them directly with the world. This information can then contribute to broader human rights documentation and accountability mechanisms. Indeed, the recent International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf al-Werfalli was based entirely on open-source digital information.
Building on longstanding work in the field, Essex Human Rights Centre launched a Digital Verification Unit in 2016 to strengthen the use of emerging technologies in human rights investigations and prosecutions. We have since created one of the first university-based Human Rights Investigations Units of its kind to conduct open-source investigations for international organizations and courts.
Amnesty International is our principal partner, and we are a member of their Digital Verification Corps. We also work with other partners such as NGOs and UN Commissions of Inquiry to advance human rights documentation and strengthen the veracity of information. This video explains the work of Amnesty International’s Digital Verification Corps.
Students are trained to verify user-generated information – think videos or photos posted to social media, or shared on messaging services - and to use this information to investigate and document potential human rights violations or war crimes.
The Digital Verification Unit works to document and verify digital evidence pertaining to human rights abuses, and to use open source investigative techniques in the pursuit of accountability. It is run by Dr Sabina Garahan.
In November 2019, the DVC won the Times Higher Education Award for International Collaboration of the Year.
The Digital Verification Unit is affiliated with the Human Rights, Big Data and Technology Project, and is a member of the University of Essex Armed Conflict and Crisis Hub.
Our contributions
The Digital Verification Unit has worked on a range of impactful projects, responding to urgent human rights issues, contributing to Amnesty International's reporting, UN expert commissions of inquiry, and the work of organisations including Forensic Architecture. The following are examples of just some of the projects and activities we have worked on in recent years:
- In 2026, the DVU participated in a report-writing workshop with the Centre for Information Resilience in Cambridge, supported by Amnesty International.
- In 2024-25, the DVU conducted investigations into alleged human rights violations committed against minorities in Syria after the fall of the Assad Regime in December 2024, including extrajudicial killings, torture, bodily harm, and persecution of civilians based on religious or sectarian identity. The research was delivered to the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic to assist with their investigations into these violations.
- In 2024, DVU students joined a global team of experts in collecting, verifying, and analysing around 1.3 million pieces of digital evidence showing how protestors were met with violence from the Iranian authorities in the wake of the death of Mahsa Jina Amini in suspicious circumstances in September 2022. The collection of evidence, known as the Iranian Archive, is hosted by Mnemonic and has been a vital asset to United Nations investigators.
- In 2024, DVU members attended the Digital Verification Corps (DVC) Summit in Geneva, organised by Amnesty International in collaboration with Amnesty Switzerland.
- In 2022 and 2023, the DVU assisted the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine with reports on digital materials relevant to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and speech crimes committed in connection with the conflict in Ukraine. During the projects, DVU students met with experts on Ukraine and officials of the Commission of Inquiry.
- In 2023, DVU students participated in the Digital Verification Corps (DVC) Summit organised by Amnesty International and the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.
- In 2022, the DVU provided an expert brief to the ECOWAS Court verifying videos of police violence against protestors at the Lekki Toll Gate.
- In 2019, DVU students contributed to a ground-breaking report by Amnesty International, using social media content to help challenge official accounts of the bombing of the Syrian city of Raqqa.
- In 2019, the DVU partnered with the Center for Climate Crime Analysis (CCCA) to conduct an investigation into the human rights and environmental impacts associated with the Cerro de Pasco mine in central Peru. This work contributed to the CCCA being invited to produce a report for The Council of Ethics of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global, the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world, requesting divestment from Glencore (the mine's owner). The Norwegian Pension Fund announced its decision to divest from Glencore in 2020.
- In December 2019, The Digital Verification Corps was named International Collaboration of the Year at the Times Higher Education Awards.
- In 2018, The Centre of Governance and Human Rights in Cambridge co-hosted the 2018 Digital Verification Corps Summit in collaboration with Amnesty International and with support from Open Society Foundations.
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