An analysis of high-resolution satellite images has provided evidence of human rights abuses in Burma. The American Association for the Advancement of Science mapped locations of 31 reported human rights violations by comparing information gathered by human rights groups in Burma, also known as Myanmar, with images provided by the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency. Their efforts revealed physical evidence of destroyed villages, expanded military camps, and multiple possibly relocated villages. Burma's authoritarian military government has been accused repeatedly of restricting basic rights and waging counterinsurgency operations against ethnic minorities. This is the first time satellite images have been used to document human rights abuses in Burma; such technology was used previously to assess destruction in Darfur and Zimbabwe. This work was funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
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