Alumnus Sean O’Connor (BS, 2005) is an intern with the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s “Science and Human Rights Program” which applies geospatial technology to human rights issues. Amnesty International’s Crisis Prevention and Response Center has joined forces with AAAS to use high-resolution satellite imagery to document atrocities in areas that are inaccessible to humanitarian and watchdog groups.
The high-resolution imagery has only been commercially available since 2001, but, since that time, it has proved invaluable in providing incontrovertible proof of the burning and destruction of settlements, the immigration flows and concentration camps of the homeless, and build ups and movements of military forces in such war torn areas as Sudan and Burma. Such images are effective in refuting, for example, the Sudanese government’s refusal to acknowledge or admit complicity in what amounts to genocide. “What this satellite technology does, it makes it possible to break down those walls of secrecy. Not only to get information, but to get information in a way that’s irrefutable,” says Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA.
But such images don’t come cheap – AAAS/Amnesty has had to pay up to $2,500 per shot for images taken by QuickBird, a satellite launched in 2001 by DigitalGlobe, and other similar commercial vendors. Furthermore, such images require careful analysis. This is where Sean O’Connor comes in—he’s an intern with AAAS/Amnesty’s conflict monitoring center, working to document the Burmese government’s persecution of the Karen, an ethnic minority group that lives along the country’s mountainous border with Thailand. In a recent email to the department, Sean commented:
Hey Bill. Glad you got to read a bit about the work we’re doing. I’ve been working with AAAS for about 5 months now–it was a great next step for me. I’ve been leading the way with this project you may have read about. Prior to working w/ AAAS I didn’t know much about Burma. But now I am the resident AAAS expert on human rights issues there. Tomorrow I get to go over to Congress for a Congressional Human Rights Caucus/U.S. Campaign for Burma reception for Burmese Nobel Peace Prize laureate/democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday. Her house arrest, by order of Burma’s ruling military junta, was just extended, as was expected from the oppressive government. We’ve got lots more information on the project website at AAAS. It’s the Geospatial Technologies and Human Rights (GaTHR) program, and its URL is http://shr.aaas.org/geotech/index.shtml
I am starting a grad program at Georgetown in the Fall. It’s called Communications, Culture and Technology (CCT). I plan on researching how emerging mapping technologies are influencing the way we communicate and their effects in the media. It’s really exciting stuff. And there are new developments every day. It’s tough to keep abreast!! I can’t be thankful enough for my exposure to the wonderful world of geography and mapping technologies at UCSB. It’s taken me on one amazing adventure after another.
Thanks Bill, for staying in touch. All the best to you. And all the best to my friends in the geography department. Keep it up!
Sean graduated with honors that included Outstanding Achievement as a Geography Major, Distinction in the Major, and being awarded the Jack and Laura Dangermond Undergraduate Fellowship. To top that, he also landed a National Geographic Internship which he followed up with full time employment at Bridges.org, “an international organization with a mission to promote the effective use of information and communications in the developing world for meaningful purposes.” See http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/05/AR2007060501701.html?hpid=topnews for a Washington Post article about the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program’s use of satellite imagery to track human rights violations around the globe, including an intimate peek at Sean’s daily activities as part of the team. Sean represents the best of our department, and we are proud to have facilitated his endeavors to make the world a better place.
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