Last month WITNESS conducted a video advocacy training for 15 human rights activists working on forced displacement issues across Asia. The 10-day workshop was organized in partnership with EarthRights International, the International Accountability Project, Komas, and Chiang Mai University’s Unit for Social and Environmental Research. The human rights activist-participants range from those struggling against mega-dams in the Northeast of India, to demanding livelihood restoration for communities displaced by an ADB-funded highway in Sri Lanka, to multi-media rights education campaigners for indigenous communities resisting gold-mining in the Philippines, and more.
This workshop was also an opportunity for the participants to learn from one another as well as build connections and new ideas for coordinated action. As a result of this workshop, participants have already begun preliminary discussions for a regional Asia Video Advocacy Network to bring continued media attention and policy change around these issues. It is clear that each of these videos will have a powerful impact on the campaigns represented at this workshop. In the months ahead, we hope to also be able to share these films with you.
Trainers' Vlog: Video Advocacy Workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand,
Image courtesy of International
Accountability Project
