With the rise of smart phones and social media, more people can document and report human rights abuses. In order to best amplify the voices of witnesses, human rights organizations must gain access to these materials through secure, and simple and trustworthy technology. 

That’s where The Whistle comes in. As an interdisciplinary team of sociologists, technologists, and industry experts, we work for and with our local partners to create a products that are appropriate, useful, and needed within the community. 

Currently, we are working on cases with  four partners in different parts of the world: Global Rights Nigeria, End Everyday Racism, Humans for Rights Network, and Supply Chain Organizing Coalition. 

The Whistle helps witnesses and advocacy organisations document violations such as sexual violence, racism and abuses in the workplace and at refugee camps.

We believe that one size does not fit all. Through long-term collaborations with local partners, we ensure that our system is useful to the community that it serves and that its design aligns with the values of our partners’ projects. 

The Whistle is committed to reflexive research. By thinking and writing critically about our own work as sociologists and technologists, we aim to advance sociological thought on the intersections between technology and human rights.  Our product design process is a methodological approach that serves a dual purpose: informing the tools that we build and underpinning theoretical developments in the areas of the sociology of human rights, the sociology of technology and the sociology of knowledge.

The team behind The Whistle — made up of academics, researchers, product designers, and engineers —brings interdisciplinary expertise to the project.