Wang, B et al 2013 Problems from Hell, Solution in the Heavens?: Identifying Obstacles and Opportunities for Employing Geospatial Technologies to Document and Mitigate Mass Atrocities. Stability: stability International Journal of Security & Development, 2(3): 53, pp. 1-18, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5334/sta.cn PRACTICE NOTE Problems from Hell, Solution in the Heavens?: Identifying Obstacles and Opportunities for Employing Geospatial Technologies to Document and Mitigate Mass Atrocities Ben Yunmo Wang*, Nathaniel A. Raymond†, Gabrielle Gould‡ and Isaac Baker†† At the evolving frontier of modern humanitarianism, non-governmental organizations are using satellite technology to monitor mass atrocities. As a documentation tool, satellites have the potential to collect important real-time evidence for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, the field remains experimental and ill-defined, while useful court evidence cannot be produced without a standard methodology and code of ethics. Members of the groundbreaking Satellite Sentinel Project review the historical development of satel- lite documentation and some of its landmark projects, and propose necessary measures to advance the field forward. Introduction For governments, the first entities who have Satellite imagery, as a type of remote sens- had access to this asset, satellite imagery has ing technology, can provide accurate and traditionally been employed for intelligence detailed information of a specific geographic gathering and military planning purposes. region anywhere on Earth in a relatively Changes to US laws and policies in the short period of time. Traditional uses of sat- 1990s allowed private companies to pro- ellite imagery include development plan- vide satellite imagery to a broader range of ning and modeling, environmental conser- actors. This development enabled non-gov- vation, oil and gas exploration, agriculture ernmental actors (i.e. non-profit organiza- management, and meteorological modeling. tions, media, academia, etc.) to acquire previ- ously classified geospatial imagery and task * Student at Tufts University, United States private satellites to collect new imagery. The [email protected] humanitarian and human rights community † Director, Signal Program, Harvard Humanitar- soon began exploring the application of ian Initiative, United States this technology to its unique advocacy and [email protected] operational objectives. This trend has rap- ‡ Student at Georgetown University Law Center, idly changed the longstanding paradigm for United States how satellite imagery has most often been [email protected] employed. Once the sole province of militar- †† Imagery Analysis Manager, Signal Program, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, United States ies and intelligence services, this tool is now [email protected] being used by non-governmental organisa- Art. 53, page 2 of 18 Wang et al: Problems from Hell, Solution in the Heavens? tions (NGOs) to support international jus- als of members of the Bosnian Serb Army tice mechanisms for holding perpetrators of including Radislav Krstic and, most recently, crimes against humanity to account. the ongoing case against Ratko Mladic. These In order for satellite imagery analysis to images were used to corroborate witness become a more effective tool for these means, accounts of war crimes and crimes against however, a currently absent framework of humanity carried out in 1995 by identify- procedures and methodologies needs to be ing areas of disturbed earth indicating the established to standardize and scale-up the presence of mass graves and by noting the efforts of non-governmental actors. This presence of large groups of people and the paper identifies operational feasibility, data vehicles witnesses described as those used reliability, and legal admissibility as the three to transport the victims. Satellite imagery key criteria that should be used to deter- has also been submitted to the PCA by both mine whether and how satellite imagery Eritrea and Ethiopia as evidence of human can be employed to document alleged war rights violations carried out by both sides crimes and crimes against humanity. Three between 1998 and 2000 during a war over past landmark projects of remote sensing by their disputed border. These images corrob- NGOs are reviewed in context to the three orated the alleged intentional destruction criteria identified above. of public structures carried out by Ethiopian forces (AAAS 2007). History of Remote Sensing a) Legality b) The industry Satellite imagery has already been admitted Government commercialization of remote in cases at the International Criminal Court sensing technology began in the 1970s. At (ICC), International Court of Justice (ICJ), the time, the introduction of once exclu- International Criminal Tribunal for the For- sively military technology to civilian applica- mer Yugoslavia (ICTY), and the Permanent tions had begun in earnest, yielding several Court of Arbitration (PCA) at The Hague. notable products. The most well-known of In one instance, in Prosecutor v. Germain these products is what is now known as the Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui brought internet, which began as a project called by the ICC, satellite imagery was analyzed ARPANET. The US government also devel- to establish the ‘geographic configuration’ oped the initial Global Positioning System of an area in which war crimes and crimes (GPS) in 1973 as a military navigation sys- against humanity perpetrated by Germain tem. Since being made public, it has become Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui alleg- a commonplace tool for individual and com- edly took place during violence that broke mercial navigation all over the world. out in the Democratic Republic of the The US first attempted to privatize its Congo (DRC) beginning July 1, 2002 (ICC ‘Landsat’ remote sensing program in 1972. 2010). In another example, an ICJ case con- Soon thereafter, the French government cerning the application of the International launched a rival program called ‘Satellite pour Convention on the Elimination of All Forms l’Observation de la Terre’ (SPOT) in 1978. Pri- of Racial Discrimination (Georgia v. Rus- vatization of the Landsat program ultimately sian Federation) admitted a Human Rights failed due to high prices creating a barrier to Watch report into evidence; UNOSAT satel- private sector use, and it was returned to the lite imagery documenting villages destroyed government in the 1990s (Williamson 2001: by intentional burnings carried out by Rus- 37). SPOT took advantage of Landsat’s fail- sian forces could thus be considered by the ure, marketing itself as a cheaper and more court (ICC 2008). Aerial imagery released by reliable alternative, eventually ‘making the United States military intelligence has now United States the largest national market for also been used at the ICTY in criminal tri- SPOT products’ (Sourbès-Verger 2001: 195). Wang et al: Problems from Hell, Solution in the Heavens? Art. 53, page 3 of 18 The watershed moments in the commer- Resolution (VHR) satellites with resolutions cialization of remote sensing, however, did of 1 meter or higher, a level which makes not come until the post-Cold War period single elements such as buildings and trees of the 1990s. In 1992, Congress passed the distinguishable, is crucially important as it Land Remote Sensing Policy Act and Presi- allows for the individualized study of these dent Clinton issued a presidential directive components. Although the commercial sat- to ‘permit US firms to sell high-resolution ellite industry is calling for lower resolution satellite imagery’ (Baker 2001: 5). The two restrictions, such policy changes are depend- US-based commercial remote sensing com- ent on a major change in the shared consen- panies that dominate the industry today sus among governments supporting certain were founded in response to this policy resolution restrictions. change. GeoEye (formerly Space Imaging) launched IKONOS, ‘the world’s first high- c) The work flow resolution earth imaging satellite’ in 1999, Remote sensing operations by non-govern- quickly followed by the QuickBird satellite mental actors so far have established a ‘gen- from DigitalGlobe in 2001 (Ward 2010). eral approach [that] involves using publicly Over the next decade, GeoEye expanded its or commercially accessible high-resolution fleet to include the OrbView-2, OrbView-3, satellite imagery to document the scale and GeoEye-1, and GeoEye-2 satellites, while method of human rights abuses and the areas DigitalGlobe launched the WorldView-1 and affected by such abuses’ (Kreps 2010: 179). In WorldView-2 satellites. Though most of their an April 2012 interview with CBC Radio, the business has been conducted with the US co-author of this article and then-Director government, these two firms have provided of Operations for the Satellite Sentinel Pro- imagery for many humanitarian projects. In ject (SSP) Nathaniel Raymond outlined three January 2013, DigitalGlobe purchased Geo- ‘postures’ in which satellite projects like Eye and became the most prominent Ameri- SSP can monitor an international conflict. can company in the industry. The ‘detection posture’ can occur before an A ‘resolution gap’ exists between the reso- alleged atrocity happens, with analysts work- lution level of imagery available to civilians ing to predict whether and where threats to and that available to government intelli- civilians exist by identifying signs indicating gence agencies. The US