A pioneering program by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is providing technical expertise to human rights groups and helping Amnesty International USA with a new online effort to monitor threatened settlements in the war-torn Darfur region of Sudan and provide evidence of destroyed villages.

High-resolution commercial satellite images – provided at a discount from satellite imaging companies DigitalGlobe of Longmont, Colo., GeoEye of Dulles, Va., and ImageSat in Netherlands Antilles – are analyzed by AAAS researchers and posted on Amnesty International’s new "Eyes on Darfur" Web site (http://www.eyesondarfur.org). The human rights group’s use of satellite cameras aims to protect vulnerable populations by enabling computer users around the globe to visually track the status of settlements considered possible targets of attack.

The site includes up-to-date images on 12 intact but vulnerable villages, as well as archival satellite photos documenting the destruction of another 12 settlements in Darfur since January 2005.

The commercially available photos can show objects as small as 2 feet across, sufficient to show destruction of huts and other structures, explained Lars Bromley, project director for the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program.

"We provide the geospatial support," Bromley said. "We’re just providing a new form of content," one which can express dramatic impact. "By analyzing geospatial images, we can see that whole villages, some with more than 1,000 homes, have been destroyed" since the beginning of 2005, along with showing makeshift settlements of displaced people near the contingent of African Union monitoring forces in Darfur.

AAAS is a nonprofit, non-advocacy group, Bromley said, but it has long sought ways to use scientific methods, including forensic sciences and statistics, to help advance human rights. Founded in 1848, AAAS has 262 affiliated societies and academies of science serving 10 million individuals.

Though the Sudanese government signed a peace agreement with the main rebel group in May 2006, violence has continued. Pro-government Arab militias called janjaweed have been accused of genocide against non-Arab Africans who live in the region.

The online monitoring program, which Amnesty International officials hope will increase pressure on Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to help end the violence, was funded by the Save Darfur Coalition. The nonprofit advocacy group has been urging the United States and other governments to back a larger multinational peacekeeping force.

The Web site was launched this month with the Darfur images being collected by a AAAS program exploring how satellite imagery and other cutting-edge geospatial technologies can be used to help assess and prevent human rights violations. The program received a one-year pilot grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation which was recently renewed for another three years.

"The imaging initiative is an excellent example of how science and technology can be applied to help expose human rights violations," said Mona Younis, director of AAAS’ Science and Human Rights program. "The project is the latest in a 30-year effort by AAAS that has included documenting atrocities from Guatemala to Kosovo, while also working to promote basic human rights worldwide."

Last year, the imaging program produced satellite images showing strong evidence the government of Zimbabwe had destroyed a settlement west of Harare and relocated thousands of residents as part of a political campaign against opponents.

For the "Eyes on Darfur" project, researchers provide Bromley with the names of villages of interest, gathered from media reports and other sources. Geospatial coordinates for the villages rarely are available. Also, the spelling of place names can vary or names can be changed altogether after a village is overrun. "The process is laborious." he said. Even when village locations are mapped, archival satellite images may not be available for a specific locale and time. When trying to document a past incident, it is crucial that there be images available before and after the attack.

The archival section of the new online site shows the sort of destruction that already has occurred throughout Darfur. A village called Donkey Dereis, in south Darfur, was intact when photographed at the end of 2004. An image two years later shows the near total destruction of the village, with 1,171 homes classified as "definitely destroyed." Most of the huts have disappeared, Bromley said, and homestead areas have become overgrown with vegetation.

Archival images also show the movement of displaced persons in the area. While many have fled to refugee camps in eastern Chad, makeshift settlements also have grown within Darfur. A plain outside the city of Tawilla is empty in 2003. By the end of 2004, some scattered huts have appeared and by February, 2006, hundreds of structures are crammed up against the wall of a base occupied by a small monitoring force from the African Union.

The sites that will be monitored for any evidence of violent change include a settlement in northern Darfur called Malam el Hosh that is in a very dry, arid location. Nearby is a fairly large water source – essentially a village well – that might be attractive to militias.

In the coming months, the AAAS program will explore other imaging tools that might prove useful for human rights monitoring, including sensors that can pick up use of fire in conflicts or nighttime light monitors to detect habitation patterns.