Leading Human Rights Analysts Move to Benetech

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Palo Alto, CA, November 3, 2003: Benetech announced today that the world's leading statistical analysts of human rights have joined Benetech. “Moving to Benetech will help us deepen our technical capacity so that we can provide greater support to evidence-based arguments in human rights,” said Dr. Patrick Ball, director of the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG).

For 10 years, the HRDAG team developed database software, data collection strategies and statistical techniques to apply quantitative analysis to the measurement of human rights atrocities while at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Their work included estimating mortality rates and genocide in Guatemala, critiquing Slobodan Milosevic's defense theories in his trial in The Hague and estimating the total deaths due to the civil war in Peru.

“At AAAS, Patrick Ball was a leading innovator in applying scientific measurement to human rights. We look forward to more of his groundbreaking work with Benetech in developing technical tools for human rights activists,” said Dinah PoKempner, General Counsel at Human Rights Watch.

While at AAAS, the group grew to include experts in software design (Raphael Kaplan, Ken Ward, Richard Conibere), data processing (Michelle Dukich), web databases, network design and security (Miguel Cruz), project management and inter-rater reliability (Romesh Silva), and statistical analysis (Jana Asher). HRDAG assisted six official truth commissions (Haiti, South Africa, Guatemala, Peru, Sierra Leone and East Timor), the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, non-governmental human rights groups (Cambodia, Guatemala, Sri Lanka) and UN missions (East Timor and Guatemala).

“AAAS is proud to have provided the base for this very important and productive use of science in the service of human rights. We look forward to even greater successes as they move to a new level of effort,” said Alan Leshner, AAAS CEO.

The Benetech Initiative is a nonprofit organization that develops technology to benefit humanity. Dr. Ball advised Benetech on the creation of Martus, software that allows human rights groups to store and search their information in encrypted forms and back up the information on remote servers located far from local threats. Human rights NGOs in over ten countries currently use Martus, with active Martus backup servers located in Seattle, Washington; Manila, Philippines; and Budapest, Hungary.

Discussion of a possible merger of HRDAG and Benetech started as a result of the successful collaboration on Martus. The incorporation of HRDAG into Benetech will bring together HRDAG's considerable field experience in data collection, database design and data analysis with Benetech's software engineering expertise.

"We are enormously enthusiastic about the arrival of HRDAG and their contribution to Benetech in our larger technology efforts for social justice and human rights," said Jim Fruchterman, Benetech CEO.

About Benetech

The Benetech Initiative is a Silicon Valley nonprofit that develops sustainable, technology-based solutions to address pressing social challenges in areas such as disability, human rights, education and literacy. Many beneficial technologies have compelling social applications that are not developed because such efforts do not meet for-profit investors’ financial expectations. Benetech specifically pursues endeavors with a strong social, rather than financial, rate of return on investment, bringing commercial technology and private sector management techniques to bear in creating innovative, non-traditional solutions to challenging social issues. More information on Benetech and its projects can be found at www.benetech.org or by calling (650) 475-5440.

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