Open-Source Investigator – Ukraine Archive

Mnemonic is an international non-profit organisation promoting human rights and accountability through the preservation and verification of open-source digital information.

We are human rights defenders, lawyers, archivists, technologists, and open-source investigators dedicated to preserving, memorialising and adding value to publicly available information related to human rights violations. We use our unique position as a cross-sectorial, cross-disciplinary organisation to help human rights defenders hold power to account.

We are an equal opportunity and inclusive employer and encourage applicants of all backgrounds to apply. We do not and will not discriminate on the basis of age, race, nationality or citizenship, gender expression or identity, religion, economic background, disability, or sexual orientation.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Mnemonic is setting up the Ukrainian Archive project to preserve at-risk open-source materials related to the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine, to contribute to verification and tagging of archived content, to conduct investigations into international crimes and human rights violations committed in Ukraine as well as to consolidate open-source materials in order to support independent and fair criminal investigations and criminal proceedings at both national and international level. This work will include building the capacity of Ukrainian journalists, human rights defenders and lawyers to contribute to the Ukrainian Archive.

OBJECTIVES

Project activities include: collecting and preserving open source and closed source materials, verifying open-source materials; cataloguing and processing open-source materials through Mnemonic’s Elfehrest annotation platform; consolidating evidence for accountability purposes. In the context of this work, the Ukrainian Archive team including the investigator will collaborate closely with Ukrainian and international journalists, human rights organisations, advocacy groups and accountability institutions internationally and in Ukraine.

The open-source investigator of the Ukrainian Archive project will contribute to the monitoring, archiving, verifying, tagging and investigating of incidents of human rights violations in Ukraine.

TASKS AND DELIVERABLES

The open-source investigator will support the Ukrainian Archive team in performing the tasks mentioned below and make sure that the activities align with the project’s overall objectives and expected outcome.

• Monitor the ongoing crisis in Ukraine in collaboration with Ukrainian and International organisations;

• Collect and Archive at risk closed and open-source records and prepare content for verification and analysis;

• Assist the project manager in connecting with Ukrainian institutions, partners and individuals for collection of relevant content that document human rights violations;

• Verify records to contribute to open-source investigations on allegations of violations of international human rights, international humanitarian and international criminal law;

• Process and tag audio-visual content using Mnemonic’s Elfehrest annotation platform and protocols;

• Analyse archived relevant audio-visual materials, and build an incident database;

• Attend open-source investigation workshops conducted by Mnemonic’s investigators.

• Conduct weekly research on developments in Ukraine and update the News Point.

• Monitor and update the sources received for archiving.

LEVEL OF EFFORT and DURATION

The assignment is expected to take place from 1 August 2022 until 1 April 2023 for a full-time position. In consideration of these specifications, the candidate is free to choose the place and time of his/her activity for Mnemonic.

REPORTING

The open-source investigator will report to the Ukrainian Archive Project Manager.

TERMS OF PAYMENTS

Payment will be made monthly, upon submission of approved timesheet and satisfactory report.

CONSULTANT QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree, or equivalent, in Journalism, Law, Media and Communication Science, Political Science or related discipline and at least 3 years’ relevant work experience;
• Experience in conducting open-source investigations;
• Experience in using digital verification tools;
• Fluency in oral and written English, Ukrainian and Russian;
• Excellent writing and editing skills of investigative reports;
• Strong knowledge of the Ukrainian context;
• Experience working for Ukrainian or international human rights organization is highly desirable;
• Strong interpersonal skills are required to work collaboratively with the Ukrainian Archive’s team and its partners;
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively both as a team member and independently are required.