(Goma, November 9, 2023) – Partner organizations involved in the Kivu Security Tracker (KST) were recently made aware of a security vulnerability in its database. The KST tracks and publicly reports incidents of violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The partner organizations immediately took the website offline. The organizations have informed all researchers working on this project and are working together to fully assess the situation. Information collection has been paused.
We take the integrity of our work and the safety of those who document and report violent incidents very seriously. Our organizations are reviewing the security and privacy of our data and website, including how we gather and store information and our research methodology.
The KST is a joint project of the New York University-based Congo Research Group (CRG), Bridgeway Foundation, Human Rights Watch, and Ebuteli, a DRC-based research institute.
Launched in 2017, the KST maps incidents of violence in eastern Congo in order to better understand trends, causes of insecurity, and serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in an area of intense, ongoing conflict.
In broad terms, the Congo Research Group, Ebuteli, and the Bridgeway Foundation oversee the KST coordination team; the Bridgeway Foundation financially supports the project; and Human Rights Watch supports the research missions and training of KST researchers.
For more information, please contact:
- Congo Research Group at New York University: James Devitt, jd104@nyu.edu; John Beckman, john.beckman@nyu.edu
- Bridgeway Foundation: info@bridgewayfoundation.org
- Human Rights Watch: hrwpress@hrw.org
- Ebuteli: Fred Bauma, f.bauma@ebuteli.org; Jason Stearns, j.stearns@ebuteli.org
A copy of this statement in French is available on the French version of our website here.