This issue of Genocide Studies and Prevention is the beginning of an important discussion on the role of humanitarian technologies in genocide prevention. As technology continues to develop and change the world around us, it is only fitting that we find new and creative ways of making technological advances work in the interests of humanitarian action. The articles in this issue contribute to this effort, opening up new directions in the field of genocide studies and prevention that will hopefully spur new forms of scholarship, advocacy, and humanitarian work.

The four research articles in this issue are written by scholars working at the cutting-edge of humanitarian technologies. Tommy O’Connell and Stephen Young use high resolution and medium resolution satellite imagery from the Gereida region of Darfur, Sudan to help identify useful tools for supporting eye witness testimony and reports on human rights violations. In the second article, Nathaniel A. Raymond, Brittany L. Card, and Isaac L. Baker discuss the development of Mass Atrocity Remote Sensing, or MARS. Looking specifically at the Abyei region of Sudan, on the boarder of South Sudan, Raymond, Card, and Baker highlight the potential methods for standard forensic approaches for analysing high-resolution satellite imagery to identify evidence of alleged mass atrocities. In the third article that compliments O’Connell and Young, Card and Baker outline an innovative methodology for integrating witness testimony and satellite imagery analysis to document mass atrocities. In the fourth article, Jaimie Morse considers three principal forms of medical evidence to document sexual violence and their use in these settings: the patient medical record, the medical certificate, and the sexual assault medical forensic exam (commonly known as the “rape kit”).

Combining archival research with interviews of activists, healthcare practitioners, lawyers, investigators, and other experts, the author traces the collection and use of medical evidence to document mass rape since the establishment of the ICTR and ICTY, and argues that medical evidence collection techniques represent an emerging humanitarian technology that may influence what comes to count as sexual violence, which crimes are deemed justiciable, and how sexual violence comes to be remembered.

The issue concludes with two review essays. Christopher Tuckwood, the executive director of The Sentinel Project, reviews the state of the field, outlining the ways technologies are being used by non-state actors to gather, analyze, and communicate information for the sake of predicting, preventing, and mitigating atrocities. For those readers who are new to the use of humanitarian technologies, Tuckwood’s essay provides a fine introduction to the other articles. In the final review essay, Colette Mazzucelli provides a critical evaluation of the state of the field, charting the development of humanitarian technologies amidst concerns for privacy, the rights of victims and the accused, and new ethical considerations raised in the era of “big data.”