Sats Spot Human Rights Abuses (Updated)

Hot on the heels of geek-driven efforts to spot missing adventurer Steve Fossett using commercial satellite imagery, human rights groups have harnessed space-based imagery to track abuses in violence-wracked Burma. It's all part of what American Association for the Advancement of Science spokesman Lars Bromley describes as a sort of non-government strategy for conflict monitoring and prevention. Basically speaking, you catch the bad guys in the act, take pictures for evidence, and use that evidence to shame the bad guys into changing ... or to convince foreign governments to apply pressure.

So what's up with Burma?

"A military state since 1962, Burma's ruling junta continues to clash with the National League for Democracy," the group states:

A new analysis of high-resolution satellite images ... pinpoints evidence consistent with village destruction, forced relocations, and a growing military presence at 25 sites across eastern Burma where eye-witnesses have reported human rights violations. ... AAAS precisely mapped the locations of 31 of some 70 reported human rights violations by comparing field notes with information provided by the U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. Satellite image analysis then revealed physical evidence to corroborate reported instances of human rights violations at 25 of the 31 accurately mapped sites. Wherever possible, Bromley compared archival satellite images with newly acquired shots to examine sites before as well as after the reported military activity. In other cases, recent images revealed clear signs of destruction.

AAAS has also helped track conflicts in Darfur and Zimbabwe (depopulation of a village pictured).

__Update 13:22 EST: __EurekAlert has before and after pics from Burma here.

Related:
____A.F. general: space is for peace (part one)
Space is for peace (part two)
Geeks spot Fossett?
A.F. Fossett search turns up everything but Fossett