Benetech has developed The Martus Human Rights Bulletin System, a free software technology tool designed to assist human rights organizations in collecting, safeguarding, organizing and disseminating information about human rights abuses. It enables grassroots NGOs to securely catalogue and store their records on off-site servers with easy-to-use software, preserving crucial evidence for research, investigation and prosecutions.

The Martus Human Rights Bulletin System addresses four critical requirements for software protecting the records of grassroots human rights groups. Martus is:

• Usable. The software is as easy to use as email, can run on an inexpensive computer and does not require a constant connection to the Internet.
• Secure. Records are encrypted on a user's computer hard drive, stored securely at a remote site, backed up in an encrypted format on that server and multiple other servers and protected by a unique password.
• Searchable. Specific violations and identifying details can be searched by groups or outside researchers granted access to the records.
• Transparent. The software is open source – any group can examine the code and make an informed decision about using Martus software.

The Martus System includes:

• Martus Software for entering information or testimonies for safekeeping and organization,
• Martus Server Software to backup data offsite and the
• Martus Search Engine, a web portal where the general public can read published Martus bulletins that have been backed up to a Martus server.

Benetech supports organizations that wish to adopt Martus for their work. Please visit the Training and Technical Support page to learn more.

About the Martus Search Engine

The Martus Search Engine is a web portal that acts as a search engine for public Martus bulletins. Martus users can post data that they would like to share with the general public to the Martus Search Engine. Anyone with an Internet connection will be able to surf the web to get to this search engine and search for Martus bulletins that interest them.