As well as being a portal for cute and entertaining videos, on Friday 25 May YouTube launched a Human Rights Channel, a place for serious human rights stories to be told.
Joining forces with WITNESS, a global leader in the use of video for human rights, and Storyful, a social news-gathering operation, YouTube is keen to enable citizen journalists and organisations to upload footage on under-reported human rights stories.
“In the case of human rights, video plays a particularly important role in illuminating what occurs when governments and individuals in power abuse their positions,” the official YouTube press release states.
“The channel is committed to providing new citizen creators as well as viewers with the tools and information necessary so that every citizen can become a more effective human rights defender.”
“We hope this project can not only be a catalyst to awareness, but offer people new avenues for action and impact,” notes the YouTube statement.
In recent times YouTube effectively offered a soundboard to Egypt’s revolutionaries and educating 90 million-plus people about the atrocious crimes committed by warlord Joseph Kony.
Sources
- YouTube
- Huffington Post
- Image: YouTube