OpenEvSys

Introduction

The OpenEvSys database tool was developed for Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems, International (HURIDOCS) by Respere. This new database tool builds on HURIDOCS's earlier database systems, which have been used by human rights organisations around the world for the last 20 years.

OpenEvSys is a database for the management and documentation of human rights violations. Anyone can download and use it for free on their own computers, or contact HURIDOCS for secure online hosting.

OpenEvSys stands for Open Events System. Its built on the Events methodology for recording violations, and the "who did what to whom" data model. An event can best be understood as a basket, containing information on violations, victims, perpetrators, sources and interventions. An event is similar to the notions of incident or case.

About OpenEvSys

OpenEvSys allows you to do the following tasks:

  • Record, browse and retrieve and information on events violations, victims, perpetrators.
  • Analyse your data, produce reports and detect trends and patterns of abuse.
  • Manage and track your interventions, such as medical aid, legal aid, etc.
  • Secure digital storage of related documents: testimonies, affidavits, audiovisual files.


OpenEvSys has many features, including:

  • Built on standards: the HURIDOCS Events Standard Formats and 48 Micro-thesauri.
  • Easy to customize formats, fields, and terms to your own needs.
  • Easy browsing of your data: events, persons, violations, documents.
  • Can handle hundreds of thousands of events, persons, violations.
  • Powerful multi-entity advanced search, to identify patterns and trends in your data.
  • Multi-lingual and translated into English, Spanish, French, Khmer, and Indonesian. Translations into Russian, Arabic and Turkish available if needed.
  • Customisable user roles and permissions.
  • Free and Open Source Software - you can freely use and modify OpenEvSys, no licenses or vendor lock-in.
  • Click here for a full list of OpenEvSys features

Technology and hosting:

OpenEvSys is built as a PHP / MySQL web application. This offers many ways of hosting it: on a standalone computer, on your server and LAN, or on your web server, so you can share information on violations in a secure and standardized way over the Internet if needed.

Status:

The software is stable, mature and ready for use. The current release is Version 1.0 alpha.

Who is OpenEvSys for?

OpenEvsys is designed for use by organisations who need a software tool to manage information on violations. These include international and national non-governmental organisations, advocacy networks and national human rights institutions. Typically, these organisations or networks have the following characteristics:

  • They will have a team of information workers.
  • They require staff across departments, organisations or geographical locations to have direct access to information about violations.
  • They have increasing ICT governance and a greater capacity to access local technical support.
  • They are beginning to incorporate Internet-based tools into their public information and advocacy work.

Who uses OpenEvSys?

OpenEvSys or its predecessors have been successfully deployed and used by NGOs and NHRIs in the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Zimbabwe, Haiti and Ecuador. We cannot identify the users further, for reasons of confidentiality.