Investigations and Advocacy with Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Team

This episode of RightsCast features a panel discussion with senior members of Amnesty International’s Crisis Response Team, who explore a range of issues central to their work, including how to conduct investigations on the ground, how to use remote and open source tools to conduct or support investigations, and how to translate those investigations into effective human rights advocacy.
Brian Castner is a Senior Crisis Advisor with the Crisis Response Team, specialising in arms and military operations. He is a former Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officer in the United States Air Force, where he served in Iraq, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. After his military experience, Castner became a journalist, and he has twice received grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Scott Edwards is a Senior Adviser for Tactical Research and Analysis. His work focuses on the development of early warning mechanisms for humanitarian crises, as well as the practical use of new methods and technologies for human rights compliance monitoring and evidence collection, especially as it relates to international justice and accountability. He is currently a Professorial Lecturer at George Washington University’s Elliot School of International Affairs.
Micah Farfour is a Special Adviser in Remote Sensing for the Crisis Response Team. Having received her Master’s in GIS, Farfour developed skills to align open source information with the analysis of remotely sensed imagery to produce visual evidence of human rights abuses all over the world from her home in Colorado.
Richard Pearshouse joined the Crisis Response Team in September 2018 as Senior Crisis Advisor (Crisis and the Environment), where he leads work on the intersection of environmental degradation, conflict and crises. Most recently acting as associate director of the environment program at Human Rights Watch, where he worked for 10 years, Richard has undertaken high-level advocacy on environmental issues with national governments, the UN, and multilateral and bilateral aid donors.
Donatella Rovera is Amnesty International's Senior Crisis Researcher. Her role involves investigating human rights violations in crisis situations. Working at Amnesty International for 20 years, Rovera has travelled to some of the world's most dangerous conflict zones to investigate war crimes and other gross human rights abuses. Recent field missions include Nigeria, Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan, Central African Republic, Somalia, Syria, Libya, Ivory Coast, and Sudan.