Articles

Satellite image analysis reveals how a rapid expansion of mining sites in the country’s northeast has altered the region’s physical landscape. The impacts are devastating – for both the environment and local communities.

Designed as a resource for researchers, journalists, and the public, the new hub aims to raise awareness and increase access to gender-focused, open source research on a range of countries and contexts.

Journalists face immense challenges reporting on women’s rights inside Afghanistan. But newsrooms and researchers are leveraging open source techniques to investigate topics such as gender-based violence – shining a light on a range of underreported issues.

When Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, open source investigative techniques – or OSINT – entered the mainstream, with journalists and analysts around the world turning to these tools to track troop movements and investigate potential war crimes. Three years on, we ask CIR staff how OSINT has altered perceptions of the war and shaped reporting.

Open source data reveals the devastation to critical infrastructure and services in Ukraine, with schools, hospitals and energy facilities among the buildings and structures damaged since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

Since the 2021 coup, CIR’s Myanmar Witness project has been collecting and analysing data which shows cases of extreme violence and destruction throughout the country. According to Myanmar Witness’ findings, Myanmar’s central-northwestern Sagaing region is most heavily affected by the internal conflict, repeatedly showing the highest levels of violence in the entire country. This makes Sagaing the so-called “epicentre” of Myanmar’s conflict and a region facing an urgent humanitarian crisis. We explain:

On 1 February 2021, the military launched a coup d'état in Myanmar. Within hours, General Min Aung Hlaing seized power and arrested elected leaders, overthrowing Aung San Suu Kyi’s democratically elected government.

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza and a hostage release deal. It is the most significant breakthrough in 15 months of war – with the parties struggling to come to an agreement until now. We explain the key terms of the deal and why open source monitoring of the situation remains critical.

Videos shared on social media can provide vital evidence for open source investigators, but a clampdown on filming in some conflicts has resulted in less user-generated content surfacing. CIR explores the consequences.

In partnership with CIR, Croatian researchers have uncovered indications of a pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign utilising a large bot network ahead of the presidential run-off in Croatia.

Investigators verified over 1,300 incidents in total, using digital investigation techniques to verify destruction, violence and visible casualties using footage and images shared online, satellite imagery and other types of open source material. 

Over the past year the Eyes on Russia team at CIR has been monitoring videos and photographs, published online, claiming to show executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian forces. The number of cases emerging online has surged in recent months. In this open source investigation (OSINT) we show how each of the 80 deaths we have logged could potentially amount to a war crime under the Geneva convention.