Law’s capture of human rights focused open-source investigation

Crawford-Holland, Sasha; Smith, Patrick Brian; Williams, Andrew

Abstract

With new protocols emerging to regulate the field of open-source investigation, this article critiques their widespread deference to the requirements of legal processes that exclude alternative horizons of justice and accountability. We argue that OSI may still compile evidence to support advocacy against systemic and structural violence, but in professionalising OSI, legally centred frameworks give little allowance to speculative or creative forms of advocacy which seek to address forms of violence not yet accepted in law. We therefore propose tactics to counter such epistemic injustice aimed at fostering pluralistic, decentralised, and solidarity-based OSI practices beyond legal constraints.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Apr 25, 2025
• Online Publication Date: May 7, 2025
• Deposit Date: Feb 12, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 8, 2027
• Journal: London Review of International Law
• Print ISSN: 2050-6325
• Electronic ISSN: 2050-6333
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Article Number: lraf007
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/lril/lraf007