VOA标准英语2009年-Human Rights Groups Say New Technology Hel

By Carolyn Presutti
Washington
26 October 2009

Technology is transforming our lives. It's also transforming the way non-profit groups police human rights abuses around the world. Pictures taken from high in the skies are revealing gruesome stories -- as human rights organizations monitor the action from thousands of kilometers away.

In 2001, the United States launched Operation Enduring Freedom, the invasion of Afghanistan, aimed at toppling the Taliban. 

U.S-supported troops from Afghanistan's Northern Alliance joined the fight. 
 
The group Physicians for Human Rights says it discovered this mass grave of 2,000 Taliban troops. It believes they were killed by the Northern Alliance. 

But the group's Susannah Sirkin claims when it pursued an investigation¹, new satellite images confirmed their worst fears. "So when the satellite image came and we actually see the picture of the truck on the ground on that particular day, which means there wasn't clouds overhead and we have this clear image of what looks like an enormous excavator, it wasn't really shocking to us," she says, "But it confirmed what we had suspected, and now we had the proof that someone had ordered a big machine to remove probably bodies."

 
'Eyes on Darfur' monitors satellite images and compare them with previous images
In Darfur, genocide takes place as militias² destroy villages. These are remote areas, difficult to reach because of restrictions³ imposed by Sudan's government.

But because of an effort called Eyes on Darfur, the world can now monitor a dozen villages at risk.

Scientist Susan Wolfinbarger explains how satellite images reveal areas that have been attacked. "There's large burn scars. You can tell. There will be ash rings where fences have burned down and the ash is a lighter⁴ color, they correspond exactly to the areas where there were buildings and where there were fences in the before imagery," she said.

This satellite technology is revolutionizing the way human rights groups uncover abuses. But there are challenges. They can be expensive. Remote villages often do not appear on maps or the government does not allow cartography of the region.
 
The Center for American Progress says the U.S. should upgrade the mapping database that's available to the public.

It also wants the government to notify human rights groups when it purchases images, so the groups can access them at a lower price.

New images cost $2,000, compared to $200 to order a duplicate. 

But these groups agree, the real work comes after the photos are released.

"It's only one tool," Sirkin says, "And at the end of the day, it's human beings and governments and citizens of the world that have to decide how to stop these things and how to punish perpetrators."

And, that, she says, is the greater challenge.

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 militias   

n.民兵组织，民兵( militia的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The troops will not attempt to disarm the warring militias. 部队并不打算解除战斗中的民兵武装。 来自辞典例句
• The neighborhood was a battleground for Shiite and Sunni militias. 那里曾是什叶派和逊尼派武装分子的战场。 来自互联网

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 lighter   

n.打火机，点火器；驳船；v.用驳船运送；light的比较级

参考例句：

• The portrait was touched up so as to make it lighter.这张画经过润色，色调明朗了一些。
• The lighter works off the car battery.引燃器利用汽车蓄电池打火。