Hala Systems: Blockchain Case Study for Saving Lives and Mitigating War Crimes

A blockchain-based solution that pinpoints the location of impending airstrikes, alerts citizens to evacuate, and records immutable evidence that identifies the perpetrators of attacks.

The Challenge

The Syrian Civil War has claimed the lives of over 500,000 innocent civilians, including 20,000 children and 13,000 women since March of 2011. The U.N. estimates that 3 million more lives will be at risk if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continues the air campaign against his people. This campaign has had a devastating effect all over Syria, particularly in the province of Idlib, where an estimated 1.5 million civilians displaced from other parts of Syria reside.

Hala’s Sentry Early Warning System has successfully been used as an airstrike alert system, pinpointing the location and alerting citizens of an impending attack. The system has saved hundreds of lives in Syria, while effectively reducing the lethality of such attacks in heavily bombarded communities by an estimated average of 20 to 27%.

Unfortunately, as Hala is a private enterprise, it technically “owns” the data generated by Sentry. As a result, it is possible to claim that any data given to justice and accountability organizations may have been tampered with or mishandled through the reporting process regardless of intent. This makes it difficult for the data to be used in a court of law and prove its credibility to stakeholders.

Can blockchain technology be leveraged to immutably store war crime information, and identify perpetrators of attacks on schools and hospitals?