Multilingual system for an EU human rights agency

Custom Website

Homepage of the Liberties multilingual digital rights platform

Client Overview

The Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties) is a non-governmental organization promoting the protection of civil rights across Europe. Founded in 2017, Liberties works with member organizations throughout the EU to defend human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.

The Challenge

Liberties operates in a multilingual environment across numerous European countries. They needed a digital platform that could:

  • Support content in multiple languages
  • Present their advocacy work, research, and campaigns effectively
  • Connect their network of member organizations
  • Provide accessible information about civil liberties issues
Liberties human rights agency

Our Solution

Custom Web Platform Development

We developed a comprehensive digital solution for Liberties that includes:

  • Multilingual Content Management: A custom-built system that allows users from 14 countries to create, translate and publish human rights news, stories, videos, infographics, galleries and campaigns in 14 languages
  • Flexible Content Architecture: Accommodating various content types including news articles, reports, and multimedia resources
  • Member Organization Integration: Showcasing the work of Liberties' network across Europe
  • Responsive Design: Ensuring accessibility across all devices

Bertie

A contributor writes a story, an editor approves it, the translators gets the green light to proceed in their language and finally a local editor approves the content to be released.

The CMS allows for editors to assign translations and schedule the publishing of the content. It also facilitates the exchange of comments between editors, writers and translators to keep the communication within the system and avoid external e-mailing.

Each content type comes with specific traits. For example, the campaigns feature the e-democracy tool that allows petitions, open letters or voting. Their purpose is to mobilize people in the human rights movement across the EU.

Another useful item is the option to share a piece with a blurb on X or Facebook directly from the CMS. Ever since introducing this easy way of sharing, liberties.eu’s reach-out to people on social media has surged. And the client is very happy about it.

Bertie is equipped with an image repository that stores all the visuals the contributors had ever used. They are labeled with human rights related key words and can be easily searched for.

The CMS also features analytics and statistics to show how much content the national organizations post.

Multilingual custom web platform 1
Multilingual custom web platform 2
Multilingual custom web platform 3

Evolutionary Approach

The liberties.eu website has undergone three redesigns, with each iteration building upon the previous version while introducing improvements. This website shares the same custom CMS that we designed and continue to maintain.

  • Language Management:Content available in languages including English, German, Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, and more
  • Resource Library:Organized repository of research reports and policy papers
  • News Section: Regular updates on civil liberties issues across Europe
  • Campaign Platforms: Digital support for advocacy initiatives
Multilingual custom web platform main image 1
Multilingual custom web platform main image 2

Impact

  • Connect civil society organizations working on related issues
  • Reduce time required for content translation and publication
  • Share critical information about civil liberties across linguistic barriers
  • Amplify their voice through content that has been cited in major European news outlets
  • Build awareness about rights issues throughout European countries
  • Support campaigns on issues including digital rights, freedom of expression, and democratic values

Technical Approach

  • Focus on accessibility and usability
  • Secure platform protecting sensitive information
  • Scalable architecture allowing for growth
  • GDPR-compliant data collection and management

Technology stack

  • Ruby
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis
  • Solr
  • Heroku

Outcome

The software we delivered makes all the contributors’ work easier. It’s fast, intuitive and answers all their needs and requirements. It’s ultimately user-friendly and saves a lot of resources and man-hours on the road of supporting human rights interests across the EU.

Liberties.eu has turned into the backbone of the Liberties' multilingual communication services. It has facilitated the creation of a great amount of content and reaching out to thousands of end-users every day.

We are very happy to be the technological partner of a non-governmental organization that works hard to raise awareness of human rights issues at national and EU levels.


Up Next

Optimising the organisation's communication flow

Do you have a project in mind?

Let’s talk