If you’re kidnapped this wristband will send messages to FB, Twitter

If you’ve watched enough news bulletins in your life time, you’ll know that being a human rights or aid worker comes with the risk of kidnapping.

Enter a new wristband from the Civil Rights Defenders action group, which will send out a distress call to Twitter and Facebook if activated. The wristband can be activated manually or automatically if it is ripped off.

The wristband uses cellular and GPS technology to track its wearers and the first batch is set to roll out this week.

“Most of us, given the chance, would like to help others in danger,” Civil Rights Defenders’ executive director Robert Hardh told the BBC. “These civil rights defenders are risking their lives for others to have the right to vote, or to practise religion or free speech.”

The wristband was designed back int 2009 after the kidnapping and murder of Chechen rights worker Natalia Estemirova. According to the BBC, Estemirova had been involved in documenting the alleged abuse of civilians by government-backed militias.

Civil Rights Defenders also hopes that by sending messages to social networks, the wristbands will help put pressure on governments to find or release people who have been captured within their borders as well as acting as a deterrent to anyone planning an attack on a group of aid workers.

The campaign group hopes to have around 55 of the wristbands rolled out by the end of 2014 and is encouraging volunteers to sign up to track aid workers via social media.

Aside from applications for aid workers, we can also see a potential use for this kind of technology among civilians in areas where there are high incidences of kidnapping as well as among diplomatic officials and their families.