Billions of people around the world carry a device in their pocket that can play a significant role in protecting human rights. It’s the smartphone, and it’s becoming a key instrument in monitoring and capturing human rights violations worldwide. According to a new report by the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Summary Executions Christof Heyns, the civilian witness with a smart phone has a crucial role for documenting human rights violations and for deterrence. For example when a police officer uses excessive force is filmed on a smart phone. In several cases, this has lead to action against the perpetrator.