Looking back at our third event on 21 May 2026, we at ASTRA Bonn are very grateful to Sara Hadley for her lecture on: “NGOs Investigating Human Rights Violations Using Earth Observation Satellites”.

Commercial satellite imagery has become a standard tool for civil society organizations documenting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in places otherwise difficult to reach. Sara’s research turns the lens around and asks how analysts actually do this work, drawing on observations and interviews with practitioners in the field.

Three threads stood out to us:
🛰 Satellite images are rarely what they seem. A single visual often combines multiple spectra, for instance visible light and infrared in the case of wildfire documentation.
🛰 Satellite images do not speak for themselves. Interpretation always happens against a background of uncertainty, shaped by commercial and political constraints on what can be seen and claimed.
🛰 Behind every analysis is a person. Analysts must combine a demanding standard of objectivity with repeated exposure to images of violence, with all the risks of secondary trauma this carries.

So, thank you, Sara, for opening up a perspective on space that strategic and political debates rarely engage with.