Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast: Recent Episodes
Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast
A show about human rights coming to you every week from the Cambridge Centre of Governance and Human Rights.
Tune in each week as our panel explores the impact of new technologies on human rights, joined by fascinating guests from the University of Cambridge and around the world.
(All rights reserved, so to speak. Our theme song, "Relative Dimensions", was created by the artificial intelligence at JukeDeck.)
Join guest host, Dounia, in conversation with Omar Alshogre as they discuss the relationship between activism and human rights in the context of the Syrian revolution. What is the future of the Syrian revolution? Has it fallen into oblivion? Will Syrians ever succeed in getting rid of a regime which has been plaguing the country for more than 50 years?
Join our guest host, Maryam, in conversation with special guest Salman Sufi, founder of the Salman Sufi Foundation, as they discuss gender-based violence in Pakistan. How can the systemic infrastructure perpetuate such violence, and what can human rights activists do to mitigate these harms and close some of these systemic gaps?
Join our host, Iman, in conversation with special guests, Uma Chakravarti and Suchitra Vijayan, and our panellist Jigisha Bhattacharya, as they discuss incarceration and its politics in contemporary India, focusing on addressing concerns such as human rights violations, democratic oversight and the silencing of dissident voices.
In the 100th Episode of the Declarations Podcast, Iman is joined by special guest Lucia de los Angeles Diaz Genao and panellist Matias Volonterio to discuss: what can we do about violence against activists? How do we protect the marginalised who raise their voices?
In this episode of Declarations, our host Iman is joined by special guest Siri Gloppen and panellist Charlotte Abercrombie to discuss global democratic backsliding and its impact on human rights. They evaluate the role of courts in safeguarding human rights and the risks of politicising fundamental freedoms. This episode comes at a crucial period, where democracies appear to be in peril worldwide.
In this episode, our host Iman is joined by special guest Tarah Demant and panellist Tess Hargarten to discuss the impact of Western hegemony on modern human rights and the development of human rights organizations worldwide. This topic is especially relevant at the current moment, when multiple contentious wars are raging with more and more human rights violations coming to light.
Who are human rights for? Where is the 'human' in 'human rights'? What have we learned about human rights conceptually, as well as in practice, over the last 75 years? In this brief first episode, our host Iman introduces our theme for this season, and gives an overview of the questions we seek to probe while reflecting on the 75 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In episode 9 Declarations host Neema Jayasinghe is joined by panellist Aimee Hobley and guest speaker Kristin Hughes. Their discussion explores the potential human rights challenges raised by the ongoing green transition. Kristin offers insight and expertise on how the multistakeholder green transition can mitigate against the potential threats created by rare earth mining and resource insecurity, and how upscaling a circular economy can be part of the solution. In order to avoid repeating the ecological and humanitarian injustices of the fossil fuel revolution, human rights need to be at the forefront of a just renewable energy transition and global climate change response.
In this episode of Declarations, Neema Jayasinghe and panellist Isabella Todini sit down with Dr. Lorena Gazzotti, a research fellow at the University of Cambridge and Vice President of the Cambridge branch of the University and Colleges Union (UCU) to discuss the right to strike, why lectures across the UK have been striking this year, and why urgent action is needed. We focus on lecture strikes and the marking boycott taking place at present and discuss what the implications of continued industrial action will be for students and for teaching staff. Dr. Gazzotti offers inspiring words on why workers should join unions, and together we envision what the future of higher education could look like – if the right action is taken as soon as possible.
In our seventh episode, host Neema Jayasinghe joins panellist Yasmin Homer to discuss the work of women peacebuilders with guests Eva Tabbasam (GAPS UK) and Andrea Filippi (PeaceWomen Across the Globe). We discuss the importance of fostering and protecting civil society networks in peacetime and wartime, the challenges of political will, and how the Women, Peace, Security Agenda needs to expand its feminist focus through a more inclusive intersectionality. With insights from GAPS UK's work in Afghanistan and PeaceWomen Across the Globe’s networks between Columbia, Nepal and the Philippines, this episode crosses local, national, and international borders in a timely conversation about conflict resolution and representation.
In our sixth episode, host Neema Jayasinghe is joined by previous podcast host and panellist, Dr Maryam Tanwir. With special guest, Professor Sam Vaknin, the episode unpacks discourses related to the psychology of personal border violations in mental abuse. The conversation questions how borders and boundaries are not only demarcated, violated, or transgressed in global politics, but also at the level of the personal. Here, physical or mental abuse is a form of structured aggression, and can be surreptitious, coercive, or disguised in a myriad of ways. Invariably, it involves the violation of our borders and boundaries - both personal and societal. In this episode, we explore these various levels of abuse and their psychological implications.
In this episode, panellist Clare Francis discusses the interplay of poetry and protest in the Iranian state with Dr. Fatemeh Shams, an activist, award-winning poet, and Persian literary scholar. They explore the boundaries of art and activism in Iran, where successive regimes have historically sought to enforce strict limitations around acceptable versus unacceptable forms of activism. Protest movements challenge these boundaries in myriad creative ways, but they are at constant risk of co-option by the state. By examining the intersection of poetry and protest in Iran’s women-led uprising – known globally by the catch cry ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ – Dr. Shams gives voice to both the challenges and the revolutionary potential of women’s activism in Iran.
In this episode, host Neema Jayasinghe is joined by panelist Vanessa Dib to discuss developments of lawfare, the power of law being used as a weapon of conflict, with guest Mr. Jason McCue. In this day and age, wars can take place within and outside the traditional confines of borders and boundaries as wars are increasingly started, fought, and ended through lawfare. To better situate the discussion, Mr. Jason McCue will help us explore what lawfare is, how is lawfare is used today, and future developments of it by using the Libyan civil war as a case study.
In this episode, host Neema Jayasinghe is joined by panellist Olivia Chen and guest Professor Gavin Phillipson to discuss the legal connotations of privacy for public figures. Professor Phillipson provides a detailed insight into how the law utilises both objective and subjective criteria to assess whether a person has a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’, as well as how the status of a public figure enters into the consideration process. Moreover, the panel discusses whether it is reasonable to hold public figures to reduced rights of privacy based upon their ‘role model’ responsibilities.
This episode focuses on assessing the Rwanda Asylum Plan - UK’s most controversial migration policy in recent years. According to the proposal, 99 asylum seekers whose claims were declared “inadmissible” were scheduled to embark on a flight relocating them to Rwanda on the 14th of June 2022. While never enacted, the plan attracted widespread media attention and the criticism of many NGOs fighting for migrants rights. Our guests, Peter Wiliam Walsh and Colin Yeo will discuss the origin of this policy, its problematic nature as well as what could be done in the future to avoid similar mistakes. In our modern society, we expect developed democracies like the United Kingdom to set a positive example when it comes to respecting human rights. So, was this just a policy accident in the UK government’s overly nationalist agenda or is this the beginning of a hostile immigration environment in post-Brexit Britain? Only time will tell.
In our first episode, host Neema Jayasinghe is joined by panellist Charlotte Duthie to discuss the contemporary race for justice in Ukraine with guest Dr. Felicity Gerry KC. The ongoing war in Ukraine has recently hit its year-long mark since the initial Russian invasion in February 2022. This episode will focus on discussing and evaluating the different avenues for achieving transitional justice for Ukrainians. Are Russian military leaders better dealt with by the international community, the Ukrainian judiciary, or a synthesis of the two? As a practitioner, Dr. Felicity Gerry KC offers a refreshing and optimistic insight into the capacity of international criminal and humanitarian law to prosecute such individuals in the future.
In this first episode of Season 7, we gather our panelists to discuss the topics that will be on our minds this season. From boundaries of activism in the Iranian state to the right to privacy, we’re covering a global range of issues at the cutting edge of human rights advocacy, research and policy.
The Deepfake detection platform Sensity came out with a report in 2019 that 96% of Deepfakes on the internet are pornographic and 90% of those represent women. Deepfakes are a modern form of synthetic media created by two competing AI’s with the goal of replicating hyper-realistic videos, images, and voices. Over the past five years this has led to major concerns of the technology being used to spread mis/disinformation, carry out fraudulent cybercrimes, tamper with human rights evidence, and most importantly in relation to this episode create non-consensual pornography. In this episode, the last of this season of the Declarations podcast, host Maryam Tanwir sat down with panellist Neema Jayasinghe and Henry Adjer who is not only responsible for the Sensity report that came out in 2019 but is also a seasoned expert on the topic of deepfakes and synthetic media. He is currently the head of policy and partnerships at Metaphysic.AI and also co-authored the report ‘Deeptrace: The State of Deepfakes’ while at Sensity. This was the first major report published to map the landscape of deepfakes and found that the overwhelming majority are used in pornography.
In this episode, host Maryam Tanwir and panelist Archit Sharma discuss the impact of technology on employment with our guests, Martin Kwan and Dee Masters. This area is a complicated web of issues, but our guests have the expertise to help us better understand the stakes. Dee is a leading employment barrister at Cloister’s Chambers with extensive experience in the intersection of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and employment. She advises many companies on how to ensure their AI systems are compatible with law and the rights of workers. Martin is a legal researcher and journalist, and the 2021 UN RAF Fellow. Hehas written many articles on topical human rights issues, including recently a fascinating article on Automation and the International Human Right to Work, which will be the first workers’ rights issue we look at in this episode.
Artificial Intelligence brings many promises, but to many it is a threat as well. As AI can increasingly perform tasks at a low cost, what happens to those whose jobs are displaced by robots? And if we are using AI in the workplace to monitor our employees, and to make recruitment decisions for us, how can we ensure workers’ rights are respected? Is there sufficient oversight and accountability when AI makes decisions? Fundamentally, where do human rights and the rights of workers fit in the equation with AI and employment?
In this week’s episode of the Declarations podcast, host Maryam Tanwir sat down with Munizae and Sulema Jahangir to discuss freedom of expression and internet shutdowns in Pakistan, and their implications for human rights in the country. Freedom of expression, attacks on civil society groups, a climate of fear continues to impede media coverage of abuses by both government security forces and militant groups. Journalists who face threats and attacks have increasingly resorted to self-censorship. Media outlets have come under pressure from authorities not to criticize government institutions or the judiciary. In several cases in 2020, government regulatory agencies blocked cable operators and television channels that had aired critical programs. International conferences raising awareness on human rights and promoting initiatives safeguarding human rights (organized by the guests) were mired by technology shutdowns. We explore with our guests the issue, the stakes, and potential solutions.
In episode 5 of this season of the Declarations podcast, host Maryam Tanwir and panelist Yasar Cohen-Shah sat down with Belkis Wille, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, and former UN official Karl Steinacker to discuss the collection of refugee biometric data. In summer last year, Human Rights Watch reported that a database of biometric data captured by UNHCR from Rohingya refugees had been handed to Myanmar’s government – the very government from which the refugees are fleeing. This scandal has brought to head the debates surrounding using biometric data of refugees – from Yemen to Afghanistan, Somalia to Syria, biometric data is now fundamental in how aid groups interact with refugees. But how does this affect their human rights, and can it ever be used responsibly?
For Episode 4 of this season’s Declarations podcast, host Maryam Tanwir and panelist Alice Horrell sit down with Karen Schrier, Associate Professor and Founding Director of the Games and Emerging Media program at Marist college, and Florent Maurin, creator of The Pixel Hunt, a video games studio with a focus on reality inspired games, to discuss empathy games.
The third episode of this season of the Declarations Podcast delves into the topic of live facial recognition. Host Maryam Tanwir and panelist Veronica-Nicolle Hera sat down with Daragh Murray and Pete Fussey, who co-authored the “Independent Report on the London Metropolitan Police Service’s Trial of Live Facial Recognition Technology” in July 2019.
Live facial recognition (LFR) has been a widely debated topic in the past years, both in the UK as well as internationally. While several campaign organisations advocate against the use of this technology based on the Prohibition of Discrimination, independent academic research on the topic reveals important insights into various trials of this technology. Our guests are at the forefront of this research and in this episode present some of their findings.
In this week’s episode, host Maryam Tanwir and panellist Yasmin Homer discuss the role of technology in the securitization of European borders with MEP Patrick Breyer and researcher Ainhoa Ruiz. It was 71 years ago that the 1951 UN Refugee Convention codified the rights of refugees to seek sanctuary and the obligation of states to protect them. In 2015 Angela Merkel famously declared, “Wir schaffen das,” that we can do it. Yet, in 2021, the International Organisation for Migration has described 2021 as the deadliest year for migration routes to and within Europe since 2018. At least 1315 people died on the central Mediterranean crossing, while at least 41 lives were lost at the land border between Turkey and Greece. The creation of a “Fortress Europe” emerges as an issue beyond borders, getting to the heart of what it means to be a citizen in a globalised, technologized world. It combines political, social, and economic interests, with the inclusion of private interests and the development of border technology for “corporate interest.” The question of accountability is at the core: if state policy includes, and can depend, upon the lobbying of private security companies, who are they beholden too? If this technology is produced for commercial interest, can its application be done fairly, without bias, or without profit? Securitisation constructs a constant psychological reality of war, impinging on the rights of those trying to get in the fortress, and those already inside. The only difference between the two is luck of circumstance.
For this week’s episode, host Maryam Tanwir and panelist Nanna Sæten speak about predictive policing with Johannes Heiler, Adviser on Anti-Terrorism Issues at the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and Miri Zilka, Research Associate in the Machine Learning Group at the University of Cambridge. Predictive policing leverages the techniques of statistics and machine learning for the purpose of predicting crime. The human rights perspective provides several interesting questions for the use of predictive policing; as the technology functions today, it seems to perpetuate already existing bias in police work, but could this be overcome? Using technology for the purpose of police work necessitates questions of who is responsible for the protection of human rights and how to decide on who's human rights to uphold in the case of conflict. What is clear to both of our guests is that there needs to be clear channels of oversight if human rights are to be protected in digitized law enforcement.
The Declarations Podcast is back for its sixth season, where we will be exploring the relationship between new technologies and human rights! In this episode we provide an overview of the topics we will be discussing in each of the season’s episodes. Maryam Tanwir, this season’s host, discusses these themes with our panellists who present what is at stake.
In our final episode of the season we are delighted to be joined by Kathleen Schwind. A 2015 Coca-Cola Scholar, Kathleen focuses her research on the issues of water security in the Middle East and North Africa. She has studied at MIT and the University of Cambridge and joins our host, Muna Gasim, to discuss the problem of water shortage and its interaction with politics and international relations, as well giving advice on how to find your passion and make a positive change at any level. An insightful and inspiring conversation, this episode offers a microcosm for what Declarations has sought to achieve over the course of this season: shedding light on pressing problems in our world today and, through our guests, offering guidance on how to solve them.
For this week's episode, host Muna Gasim and panelist Eddie Kembery speak to Alfredo Romero, one of the founding members of Foro Penal, a human rights organization that won the 2017 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award for its work in Venezuela. Beginning with Alfredo’s own story, this episode is a masterclass in grassroots activism as we explore what has driven Foro Penal’s growth from four lawyer’s pro-bono work to an organisation of over 7000 activists. On the way, we discuss the difference between macro and micro resistance, activism without sacrifices, and Alfredo’s unconventional use of music.
This week, host Muna Gasim and panellist Akshata Kapoor welcome journalist Afrah Nasser for an in-depth discussion on human rights reporting, bias, gender inequity, and more in Yemen and the international community at large. Our discussion this week covers topics ranging from the role of objectivity in human rights reporting to both the benefits and pitfalls of technology and social media. Nasser shares insights with Muna and Akshata on finding role models and the most important ways that governments and residents alike can support Yemeni rights.
This week, host Muna Gasim welcomes guest Tom Parker, counterterrorism practitioner and former UN war crimes investigator, for a discussion about situating the fight against terrorism within a human rights framework. They discuss the power of language, justifications for the use of force, peace standard interrogation, Guantanamo Bay, the state of policing, and more.
This week, host Muna Gasim and panellist Neema Jayasinghe speak with Chamnan Chanruang from Thailand’s Future Forward party about the anti-monarchy protests currently ongoing in the country. Chanruang is a former Political Science and Law lecturer at Chiang Mai University, and has a professional background as a human rights activist. He has taken a stand against coup d’états and was also a key driver in the movement to finalise the draft act for the Chiang Mai Self-Governing Region. He was previously appointed as the Chairperson of Amnesty International Thailand.
For this week’s episode, host Muna Gasim and panellist Eddie Kemberry are joined by Natalie Jones, Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk, to discuss existential risk, the climate crisis, indigenous rights, and the ways that all three intersect. Natalie shares insights into the nature of global, existential risks and how we can think ahead to protect the rights of future generations. We also discuss the need for substantial and meaningful representation of indigenous peoples in decision- and policy-making.
For this week's episode, we are delighted to welcome Alina Utrata, a Ph.D. candidate in Politics and International Studies and a 2020 Gates Scholar at the University of Cambridge, whose research focuses on the influence of technology on state and corporate power. She joins our host Muna Gasim and producer Sam Baron to discuss how Big Tech companies are impeding and restricting our human rights in the digital space, and what type of change is necessary to begin tackling this threat. Their conversation touches on the enormous amounts of power companies such as Facebook can wield on the global stage, and how poor data security can endanger and cost lives. ADDENDUM: Toward the beginning of the episode, Alina misspoke and says that “in Myanmar, Facebook is the military”, this should be “in Myanmar, Facebook is the internet.”
For this week's episode, host Muna Gasim and panellist Ashling Williams are joined by Alex Raikes, the Strategic Director of Stand Against Racism & Inequality, for a discussion on the escalating and pervasive crisis of hate crimes in the United Kingdom. Alex discusses both the long-term prevalence and event-related spikes of hate-based crimes and incidents facing marginalized communities across the country. This episode also dives into the need for preventative education, research, and action to work towards a society that celebrates and protects the rights of every individual.
Our conversation this week turns to the question of Dalit rights in India, assessing the progress that has been made and what further change must come. To discuss this, we are thrilled to be joined by Dr. Sumeet Mhaskar from Jindal Global University. An Associate Professor at the Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, Dr. Mhaskar’s research takes in the experiences and vulnerabilities of workers both specifically in Mumbai and across the Indian nation. He talks with our podcast host Muna and panelist Akshata about the everyday persecution and discrimination Dalits still face, the failure of political and legal reforms to fight the Dalit cause, and what the international community can do to bring about meaningful and long-lasting change.
This week, host Muna Gasim and producer Sam Baron are joined by Zumretay Arkin, the Program and Advocacy Manager at the World Uyghur Congress, an umbrella organization based Berlin, Germany that advocates for the rights of Uyghur people, an ethnic group from Xinjiang in Northwest China. Despite the severe human rights abuses taking place against Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China, Beijing remains the host of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, which has vast political and humanitarian implications. Muna, Sam, and Zumretay discuss the atrocities being committed against the Uyghur people, the political power of the Olympics, and how governments, corporations, athletes, journalists, and citizens can take action.
This week, for the second in our two-part series focusing on the #EndSARS Movement, we are joined by three powerful activists working to end police brutality and abuse of power in Nigeria: Aisha Yesufu, Vome Aghoghovbia-Gafaar, and Lola Omolola. Our guests share stories about living in fear under SARS, insights about the power of the #EndSARS protests, and their visions for Nigeria’s future
For our first episode of 2021, we return to the 2018-19 Sudanese Revolution that overthrew Omar al-Bashir and his National Congress Party. Joined by Dinan Alasad and Aida Abbashar, the conversation highlights the course of the revolution, the importance of international attention and the mobilizing and uprising of Sudan’s youth. Our guests identify both the power of social media movements such as #BlueForSudan and #BlueForMattar as well as reminding us that, in areas like women’s rights, the story is far from complete.
The topic of conversation this week is the ongoing climate crisis and our urgent need to act. We are joined by the remarkable Daze Aghaji, a university student and high-profile climate justice activist who has fought to combat the climate emergency at an international level. The climate crisis has the potential to impact all aspects of our lives and Daze urges us to tackle the issue, not just environmental grounds, but on social and cultural levels as well.
This week, in partnership with Global Integrity, we are joined by Dr. Jackie Harvey of Northumbria University and Dr. Pallavi Roy of SOAS University of London to discuss the structures of political power in Nigeria and the underlying systems of corruption that culminated in the protests of the #EndSARS movement. This episode is the first in a two-part series focusing on human rights abuses in Nigeria and the protests fighting to #EndSARS and end police brutality.
In the second episode of Season 5, we are joined by Dan Sullivan, the senior advocate for human rights at Refugees international, and Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK to discuss the situation of the persecuted Rohingya minority in the context of Myanmar's second general election, an event overshadowed by electoral events in the United States.
In the first episode of Season 5, the new team of panellists sets the stage for a broader discussion of human rights under threat. Through their experience with human rights issues in NGO work, academia as well as their personal lives, they problematise some aspects of human rights while highlighting its immense potential for positive change. This season, the theme of the podcast is "In the Firing Line", where we will invite all of those at the forefront of change within the human rights movement to share their experiences and provide a dialogue around the very principles of human rights itself.
In the past few months, online activism has exploded, enabling us to build transnational solidarity and make cross-topical connections like never before. In this episode, we talk about the possibilities and sometimes fraught experience of online activism, the importance of doing due diligence, and guarding against burnout.
For some of us, these few months have been punctuated by heavy conversations about race around dinner tables, living rooms, maybe even over calls and social media comment threads. They've been with friends, family, strangers. Some of them have gone well, and many have not. These conversations require all parties to reach across generations, cultures and other forces that shape our worldviews, in order to build a more progressive, inclusive future.
In this episode, our panelists discuss why it is crucial that we keep engaging in these conversations, and provide some tips as to how we can ensure that they are as productive as possible. We hope that this episode offers a safe space to reflect and learn together from the difficult conversations we've been having in our own lives.
Have you heard the phrase 'abolish the police' being thrown around, but you're not really sure what this demand actually entails?
In this episode, we break down the ideas and intellectual histories of arguments to abolish, defund, and reform policing as an institution. We hope our discourse is helpful to you in figuring out where you stand in conversations around race and the criminal justice system. This is a companion piece to our previous episode, 'We Need to Talk: The Prison-Industrial Complex", and aims to give you an insight into the ways in which the criminal justice system can be reformed and detached from the racist structures that currently underpin it.
The prison-industrial complex. What does it mean? Who does it benefit? Who suffers? This week, we discuss how systemic racism manifests in the United States in the form of the prison-industrial complex. From its historical origins in slave patrols to the war on drugs, the criminal justice system has systematically entrapped Black bodies and monetized their labour to serve corporate interests. This is only the beginning: we encourage you to take a look at the resources on our website to learn more.
In this episode, we are giving you a quick crash-course in how to protest safely and effectively, in the UK and in the US. We will cover your legal right to protest in the US and UK, give you tips on how to protest safely considering the current coronavirus pandemic, and discuss protesting as a non-Black person and how to leverage your privilege to help and protect Black protestors.
We need to talk about race.
Since its inception, Declarations has sought to shed light on some of the worst human rights violations across the globe. However right now, there is a specific violation that deserves all of our time, attention and effort - racism. Here at Declarations we are now solely committing ourselves to becoming a resource for anti-racist mobilisation, as we launch our new series - It's Time to Talk About Race. We’re here to talk, discuss, share and inform, and to have those uncomfortable conversations that we have needed to have as human beings for so long.
In this introductory episode, we discuss what it truly means to be an anti-racist ally, addressing all the main themes, trends and buzzwords that we are seeing all over our social media feeds. We unpack the meaning of key concepts such as white privilege, racial capitalism, virtue signalling, emotional labour and white fragility, providing an intellectual base from which listeners can further commit to anti-racist mobilisation.
Time stamps:
00.50 Introduction to the new series
08.19 Introduction to the panelists
17.16 'All lives matter'
21.00 White supremacy as the foundations of our society
24.49 Systemic and institutional racism
28.42 Racial capitalism and corporate social responsibility
33.08 Productive and active allyship - tackling virtue signalling and white fragility
In this episode we discuss the Unist’ot’en campaign to protect their land and preserve it for future generations. In 2010, the Unist’ot’en began constructing a cabin in the exact place where three companies, TC Energy, Enbridge, and Pacific Trails, intended to build pipelines. Their campaign has faced hostility and violence, including from the government of Canada, and its national police force, the RCMP. To the dismay of Coastal GasLink and Canada’s colonial government, the camp has received immense support both locally and internationally, with solidarity blockades of Canada’s railroad threatening to shut Canada down. We are joined by Dr Karla Tait, Director of Clinical Programming at the Unist’ot’en Healing Centre, who speaks to her first hand experience and strategies of reoccupying and reconnecting people with the land.
Join us as we discuss what the viral story of a Christmas card plea from a prisoner inside Shanghai Qingpu Prison tells us about our participation as consumers in regimes of forced labour, as well as the role and responsibility of corporate social responsibility for preventing these human rights violations. We are joined by Peter Humphrey, who speaks first hand about his own experience within this very same prison, where he was incarcerated on false charges for 23 months.
Join host Niyousha and panelists Matt and Muna as they interview Jacinta Gonzalez about her current work regarding hostile environments in the US, as well as discuss the Ellis Island legacy and the expansive infrastructures of technologies of oppression.
From 25th November to 4th December 2019, lecturers in 60 universities across the UK went on strike. Declarations hit the picket lines of Cambridge to find out why academics were swapping their blackboards for banners.
Join us as we interview Maya Goodfellow, author of 'Hostile Environment: How Immigrants Became Scapegoats', for Part 1 of our series about the racialization of immigration. In this enlightening and extremely topical episode, we discuss security discourses of the 'scary' migrant, racial capitalism and the racialization of citizenship.
In this episode, we discuss the provision and effectiveness of existing laws aimed to protect the rights of persons with disabilities. Touching on issues of positive discrimination, intersectionality and 'invisible' disabilities, we are joined by prominent student disability advocates Ebenezer Azamati and Rensa Gaunt.
In this episode we discuss the current human rights infringements taking place in the semi-autonomous state of Kashmir. From the Public Safety Act to the repealment of Article 370, we interview lawyer, activist, and member of the Kashmir solidarity movement Mirza Saaib Beg and Academic and historian Waseem Yaqoob.
This episode focuses on the UK’s policy of deterring refugees and migrants from seeking asylum by extending the Home Office’s domestic “hostile environment” beyond state borders and into mainland Europe. We raise a number of questions on ethical and legal grounds. Our guest Marta Welander, founder of Refugee Rights Europe and PhD candidate and visiting lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University, is here to discuss her work and research toward these issues.
From June to October 2017, the US-led Coalition launched an aggressive and highly destructive military campaign in Raqqa, Syria to oust the so-called “Islamic State” from the city. More than 80% of the city was destroyed via aerial bombardments, leaving Raqqa the most destroyed city in modern times. And over 1,600 civilians were killed. Amnesty and the Digital Verification Corps came to Queens’ College, Cambridge for a panel discussion crossed with an exhibition featuring photographs, interactive screens, and even a Virtual Reality experience. Declarations was invited to the event, to hear from the panel, explore the exhibition, and speak to some of the visitors.
In the first episode of this seasons' Declarations podcasts, the new team of panellists sets the stage for a discussion of some of the human rights issues that do not receive enough attention. The podcast gives rise to a dialogue around the very principles of human rights, informed by the panellists diverse geographical backgrounds and personal interests. Through their experience with human rights issues in NGO work, academia as well as their personal lives, they problematise some aspects of human rights while highlighting its immense potential for positive change.
Until 2015, China harvested organs from prisoners on death row. The State has adopted an official policy that all organs must come from voluntary donations. Yet research suggests that there is a large discrepancy between the official Chinese government’s statistics on organ transplant rates in China (10,000 per year) and reality (estimates of 60,000-100,000 per year). When combined with the ongoing repression of ethnic and religious minorities by the State, this raises questions about the origins of those organs. Human rights groups allege that the State harvests organs from prisoners of conscience including members of Falun Gong, Uyghurs, Tibetans and House Christians.
In this episode, we focus on organ trafficking and transplant abuse in China, and the impact that it has upon minority groups. We are joined by Dr David Matas, who is an international human rights lawyer based in Canada and co-founder of the International Coalition To End Transplant Abuse In China (ETAC)
Technology is redefining the experiences of refugees and asylum seekers in this globalised world, whether it is artificial intelligence (AI) being used to screen their immigration applications or mobile applications designed to help them to access information and healthcare. The implications are far-reaching and complex, since such technological innovations could either strength or undermine human rights.
Moreover, how human bodies are sorted reflects power dynamics and values in the 21st century. For instance, AI could expedite decision-making for immigration agents and reduce the backlog. Yet it is potentially dangerous to use AI in making decisions which could bear life-or-death consequences, by approving or denying a request for asylum.
On this episode, we consider these questions about the current and future use of technology in the immigration space, plus how we should change the conversation so that people can become more informed in using and developing these tools. From the University of Cambridge and the Centre of Governance and Human Rights, this is Declarations and I am Jennifer Tridgell.
We are joined by Petra Molnar, and Matt Mahmoudi. Petra Molnar is the Acting Director of the International Human Rights Program, University of Toronto, and specialises in immigration and human rights law. Matt Mahmoudi is Jo Cox PhD Scholar at the University of Cambridge, where his research focuses on technological marginalisation among refugees and vulnerable migrant populations.
In this episode we discuss how the infrastructure of the US-Mexico border wall has become a weapon in and of itself. Since Trump’s campaign promise, “the wall” has captured onlookers’ horror and imagination. It is a frontline for so-called wars on drugs, terror, and migrants, but resistance to it is also a frontline in the fight for human rights. We explore the impact of the wall as weaponised infrastructure – not only a deadly symbol, but also a physical object that shapes the lives of those at or around the border. Our guest for the episode, Dr. Ieva Jusionyte, has worked as an emergency responder on both sides of the border in Arizona and Sonora. She is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Harvard, and Editor of the University of California Press Series in Public Anthropology. Her most recent book, Threshold: Emergency Responders on the US.-Mexico Border is written from the perspective of firefighters and paramedics working along the border.
Music by Blue Dot Sessions, Borrtex, and Seed A.I.
This week’s episode explores how the petroleum industry in the Niger Delta takes place at the intersection of contentious relations between multinational oil companies, the Nigerian nation-state, and local communities in the oil-producing regions. The guest on the show is Dr Elias Courson, a lecturer at Niger Delta University, Nigeria and a former postdoc fellow at the Centre of African Studies, University of Cambridge.
In this episode, we speak with Donatella Rovera, Senior Crisis Advisor at Amnesty, Milena Marin, Senior advisor for Tactical Research, and Katya alkhateeb a senior researcher at the Essex Human Rights Centre, about launching the immersive investigation titled 'Rhetoric Versus Reality in the War in Raqqa' project. The project set out to document US-led Coalition civilian harms in Raqqa in 2017, through a collaboration between some 3,000 digital volunteers, and Amnesty's on-the-ground researchers.
In this episode we discuss the notion of a human rights-based approach to the socio-economic and cultural development of the UK, particularly in relation to race. The discussion explores the relationship between political representation and racial equality, alongside the development of political literacy amongst young people from minority backgrounds. Our guest for the panel discussion was Mr Simon Woolley, Director and one of the founders of Operation Black Vote & Chair of the Race Disparity Advisory Group at 10 Downing St.
Soundtrack: 'Highway to the Stars' by Kai Engel, and 'Ascent' by Jon Luc Hefferman.
In this episode we will be talking about the use of mapping and social media technologies to conduct human rights work, both outside the field and inside the field (what has come to be known as “Open Source Intelligence” or OSINT).
This kind of work increasingly supports how human rights workers know with certainty when something has happened, and is becoming an important part of denouncing and reacting to human rights abuses.
We were joined by Sam Dubberley, Senior Advisor to the Crisis Response Team at Amnesty International, and Manager of the Digital Verification Corps.
The documentary “Cities of Sleep” explores the world of insurgent sleeper communities, as well as the infamous 'sleep mafia' in Delhi. Filmmaker Shaunak Sen and Cambridge PhD candidate Shreyashi Dasgupta join us to discuss the intersection between urban development, changing societies, city life and communities experiencing homelessness.
Over 10,000 migrant children have been lost after arriving in Europe. Where do they end up? What are their stories? And who is responsible for their increasing vulnerability and their being forgotten? Our guests are Cecilia Ferrara and Ismael Einashe, investigative journalists from Lost in Europe: an investigative network committed to recovering the stories of these missing children.
Everyone's asking, "How did he win? What does this mean for Brazil's future?" But Jair Bolsonaro's victory in the October presidential election also raises more systemic questions. Our guest, Dr Malu Gatto from the University of Zurich, joins us to explore the legacy of Brazil's not-so-dated dictatorship for Bolsonaro and for resistance movements like #NotHim.
Welcome to Season 3 of Declarations. This episode introduces our brand new team of regular panelists, as well as this year's three themes: Memory, Community, and Futures.
In this special episode, we sat down with Jackson Odong of the Refugee Law Project, and Shama Ams from the Centre of Development Studies, to discuss justice in post-conflict and post-colonial contexts. Jackson describes the important role of documenting memory, while Shama speaks to the possibility for rights and weaponisation of citizenship. Are there alternative routes to justice and rights outside the context of the state? What obligations in terms of justice are owed, when one regime is replaced by another? All of this and more in this episode of declarations.
In this episode we talked about external borders and internal politics, trying to get to grips with what democracies owe refugees. As a long-standing former policy-maker and MP, Lord Smith helped us shed light on the domestic dimensions of the politics of the Syrian refugee crisis.
Declarations went to Washington DC earlier this year to talk to researchers and practitioners who are dealing with disinformation. While there we met Alexa Koenig, Executive Director at the Berkeley Human Rights Center.
Alexa has had an illustrious career working in the arts, education and politics, before making the jump to a career in Law and Human Rights in particular. She's the author of the highly rated 'Hiding in Plain Sight: The Pursuit of War Criminals from Nuremberg to the War on Terror', and has helped pioneer one of the most significant human rights "innovations" in the digital age; the Human Rights Investigations Lab.
Declarations PROFILE is a new series that covers a wide range of notable and inspiring figures in the human rights world.
The Copenhagen Declaration - adopted April this year - unveiled tensions about the relationship between democracy and human rights. If human rights are universal, then they are not only for voting citizens. The views of the citizen majority in any given nation might not be in support of protecting the rights of minorities – non-citizens who cannot vote are particularly vulnerable.
However, the alternative to this can also be viewed as problematic: an independent court that can overrule the decisions of the nation-state is seen by many as having excessive authority and little relevance to domestic concerns.
Professor Çalı shared her expertise on what the Declaration (in draft form at the time) means for the state of human rights in Europe.
Music on this episode was generated by JukeDeck (theme song), and by Alex Finch ('Seeking Clarity')
In this episode, we are joined by Helen Jennings and Caitlin de Jode, who are organising a conference on ‘The Development of Abortion Rights in a Changing Europe’; the first of its kind in Cambridge. Helen, Caitlin, and their team, want to bring together scholars, activists and experts on the matter, to talk about how we can develop a meaningful framework through which abortion rights - amidst brexit and Ireland’s referendum on the 8th amendment - can be realized. What european, as well as global phenomena, are currently in motion that make this a particularly pressing matter now? What is the impact of conscientious objection on the provision of abortion to women in the UK? How should these competing rights be balanced? What changes - beyond the legal - are necessary, and who can help affect change?
Is Human Rights just a fable? To uncover this question, we venture down 'history' lane with Professor Samuel Moyn. What’s so special about the 1970s, and how does how we think about the emergence of human rights impact how we think of what human rights are, and what they are supposed to do? Join us and find out on this episode of Declarations.
In this episode, we talk about race, racism, borders, and human rights. What kinds of borders are erected around the rights you have - and the rights you don’t? Are human rights a language of liberation from structural oppression, or can it be an oppressive language itself? How can we decide?
We were joined by Dr Monica Moreno Figueroa, a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Cambridge. Monica’s research interests include the lived experience of ‘race’ and racism; feminist theory and the interconnections between beauty, emotions and racism with a focus on Latin America.
In this episode, we talk about the law, politics, and human rights implications of drones and targeted killings. What can international humanitarian law tell us about the legal status of rights? Can human rights prevent drone strikes? Should they - and if so, how?
We were joined by Christof Heyns, the former U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. Today, he serves on the U.N. Human Rights Committee and is Professor of Human Rights Law at the University of Pretoria.
In this episode, we talk about occupation, refugee rights, and the status of Palestine. Are there systematic ways to remedy human rights abuses against an occupied people? How has human rights language been used to facilitate occupation? What can be done?
We were joined by Dr Ruba Salih (SOAS), expert on Transnational Migration and Gender, and Odette Murray, who is a lecturer in Law.
In this episode, we look at global economic institutions, and their role in human rights. Dr Shailaja Fennell joined us to discuss questions of whether institutions can advance, or inhibit human rights? What can we learn from failures in development, and how can lessons learned be used as a srping-board for tackling issues of gender, education and inequality?
In this episode, we discuss the weaponisation of human rights, i.e. are human rights always "good"; or are they at times used for more sinister ends? How has the use of human rights changed from the days in which they paved the way for movements around the globe, from the civil rights movement to the struggle to end apartheid, till today? Helping us delve into these murky waters, we were joined by Journalist, retired Civil Rights Lawyer, and Author of 'The Passion of Chelsea Manning', Chase Madar.
On this episode, we discussed refugee rights in international and domestic contexts. We were joined by Sociology PhD student, Rabia Nasimi, who - drawing on her own experience - talked us through the importance of people's individual backgrounds in matters of integration. The conversation also covered the role of grassroots organisations as compared to larger movements and institutions, and questioned whether integration is always benevolent. This episode emphasises that rights are only part of the issue, and that we need to start a more grounded conversation.
This week we spoke with Mbalenhle Matandela who was an active voice in the Right to Protest and Rhodes Must Fall campaigns in South Africa and is now a Rhodes scholar at Oxford. We discussed the various modes of protest and resistance, artificial impositions of notions of order, the politics of space and why 'armchair activists' have a crucial role to play.
In this episode, we talk about human rights and intervention, in the context of international institutions and their role in enforcing rights. Do local contexts matter? What are the everyday realities of countries subject to decrees by the International Criminal Court? And do rights belong to the individual or the community?
Dr Njoki Wamai, a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Centre for Governance and Human Rights, helps us answer these questions in this episode.
What does cultural heritage mean, who can claim it, and what does it have to do with rights? With a significant number of artifacts on display in British museums having been removed from their original owners during periods of colonisation, this episode tackles the intersection between cultural artefacts, and larger issues of justice such as racial inequality, systemic injustice, and property rights.
Gweagal activist, Rodney Kelly, joined us from Australia, to speak about his fight for the return of Gweagal spears and shields held by the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology in Cambridge, and the British Museum.
What do #TakeAKnee, #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter have in common? In this episode, we explored ongoing debates surrounding the place of rights in redressing structural injustice. We talked about the language of rights, as used by both social movements and institutions, as well as social media and legislation. What are the best practices to advance human rights in an imperfect world? All of this and more, in today's episode.
Welcome to the 2nd season of Declarations: The Human Rights Podcast. With every episode, we’ll be exploring contemporary debates about politics and human rights with people who study them, and people who fight for them — both here in the UK and around the world.
Taking on 3 thematic areas, this season focuses on 'protest', 'subjugation', and 'technologies of oppression/liberation'. Our first episode goes live on October 30th 2017 - so tune in!
We can now take satellite pictures from the sky, get DNA samples on the scene and track moving networks of people through phones, laptops and other mobile technologies. With all this tech, human rights organisations should have a better idea than ever of the situation on the ground. But does this really matter, and can it really work?
From using big data to predict instances of human rights abuse to combining different types of evidence to prove they have occurred, Declarations sat down with Steven Livingston, a Professor at George Washington University and a senior fellow at the Carr Centre for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, to talk about how technology is changing the human rights scene.
“If you are doing political art, you can say goodbye to safety. Art is not about safety.”
Pussy Riot activist Maria Alyokhina discusses how she’s used art to protest against authoritarianism in Russia, for which she spent nearly two years in prison. In this episode, she speaks out against the human rights abuses against LGBT citizens in Chechnya.
After Scott's interview with Maria, former Moscow Times reporter Joanna Kozlowska and regular panelist Max Curtis explore the history of Russian feminist protests, from 1917 to today.
We sit down with world-renowned economist Dr Ha-Joon Chang, author of "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism", to explore economic rights, the welfare state, and neoliberalism in the age of Trump and Brexit. Does the state have an obligation to provide certain goods and services? Can we afford the welfare state? And does the free market even exist?
What is the status of LGBT+ rights in the world today? Who is best placed to lead and advance these movements?
From questioning whether countries of the Global North should intervene in countries where LGBT+ rights are threatened, to assessing the legacies of colonialism on cultures of tolerance, we deconstruct the concept of ‘allyship’ in the fight for LGBT+ rights today.
This week, we’re joined by Masters student Sahil Shah as well our regular panelists Eva Milne, Scott Novak and Matt Mahmoudi
Is there a right to die, and if so, who has this right? A few countries, such as Switzerland, have legalized forms of assisted dying, but others, like the UK, have banned such practices. With the nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the US Supreme Court, this topic has also sprung up again in America, as the only book Gorsuch has published makes an argument against assisted dying.
This week's guest is Stevie Martin, a PhD student in Cambridge's Law faculty, who is researching whether the UK's ban on assisted dying conflicts with the European Convention on Human Rights.
The International Criminal Court (ICC)was established in 2002 to prosecute individuals for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. However, only Africans have been prosecuted by the court thus far, leading some African states to criticize the court for a perceived bias against Africans.
This week, we're joined by Cambridge lecturer Dr Adam Branch, as well as Masters students Georgiana Epure and Surer Mohamed. Why is the ICC accused of bias, and is this accusation accurate? What are the power dynamics that shape the court? And what is the future of international justice in Africa?
Are human rights the best way to view reproductive healthcare? From thousands of Polish women protesting over restrictive abortion laws, to President Trump’s reinstating of the "global gag rule" banning NGOs from offering advice about abortion, we unpack the link between reproduction, rights, and the real people affected.
Joining us this week are three guests from Cambridge University’s Reproductive Sociology Research Group: Dr Katie Dow, Dr Mwenza Blell, and Dr Robert Pralat.
Governments use database technology to both deliver social services and surveil populations. However, with this power comes crucial questions. Is arbitrarily violating people's privacy necessary for national security? Who controls how surveillance technology is used?
Research officer Claire Lauterbach from Privacy International joins Declarations to discuss these complex issues surrounding privacy. In this episode, we explore Claire's research on different surveillance programs throughout the world and why the "collect-it-all" paradigm of certain intelligence agencies is so problematic.
President Trump's so-called "Muslim ban" has upended thousands of lives, leaving immigrants and refugees wondering if they can enter the United States. This week, we sit down with immigration lawyer Ben Gharagozli and Canadian-Somali researcher Surer Mohamed to unpack the complexities of the issue.
In this episode, Ben analyzes the profound legal problems with this contested immigration executive order, and Surer explores the ban's moral problems, as well as the anxieties it has exacerbated among its targets.
NOTE: We recorded on Friday, February 4th. Since then, a U.S. appeals court has temporarily halted Trump's ban, but the fear and uncertainty it has caused still remains.
This week, we sent Matt Mahmoudi to London to interview Dr. Thomas MacManus about the persecution of the Rohingya, a Muslim minority population in Myanmar that has faced increasing violence from the Myanmar government in recent months. Thousands have fled their homes, and the government has banned access for journalists and aid organizations. Is this the beginning of genocide?
As one of the few researchers to be granted access close to where the Rohingya live, Dr. MacManus provides an ideal introduction to the situation. And after the interview, our regular CGHR panel convenes to analyze the deeper roots of the conflict in Myanmar. Why has renowned leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained silent, and what power do states really have to prevent genocide?
Dr. Thomas MacManus teaches at Queen Mary University of London. Learn more about his International State Crime Initiative at www.statecrime.org.
This episode's music was composed by the machine-learning algorithm at JukeDeck. Create your own
In the aftermath of the Syrian Civil War, disarray over the current refugee crisis has created enormous political anxieties in Europe. But to what extent is this a European "crisis"? Are the almost 5 million refugees in Syria's neighbouring countries able to access socio-economic provisions, particularly in Lebanon? Is this an unprecedented situation, or a new chapter in an ongoing story of refugee rights and state responsibilities?
This week's guests are Dima Krayem (PhD student in Development Studies) and Stefan Theil (Students of Cambridge Refugee Scholarship).
Over the last few years, thousands of students have begun campaigns calling their universities to divest their endowments from fossil fuels. What is the case for fossil fuel divestment? How do these campaigns relate to human rights issues? And is there any hope of mitigating the future impacts of climate change, given the unwillingness of some governments to even acknowledge fossil fuel dependency as a legitimate problem?
This week's guests are Chris Galpin and Emma Bryan (Cambridge Zero Carbon Society) and Carys Goodwin (former New Zealand Green Party staffer).
In our first holiday special, Max, Matt, and Scott explore the many debates around Christmas and cultural rights. Why does Fox News always talk about a 'War on Christmas'? Are the holidays a sacred time for avoiding political topics, such as Trump or Brexit? And if we do talk politics with family, how can we do so in a productive manner?
Who has the power to remake cities? We ask Dr Graham Denyer Willis about security, democracy, and development in urban environments in places like Brazil and America. Human rights have transformed modern cities — but do they empower the people who live there?
In an age where states and even ordinary people have the power to produce fake news, how do we verify whether a supposed human rights abuse is real or staged online? Human rights and digital media expert Dr Ella McPherson explores this problem and her work to address it.
(NOTE: Dr McPherson is currently on maternity leave, but she graciously agreed to be on this episode. This interview contains some minor background noises from Ella's baby.)
Where do rights come from, and what's the point of talking about them? In our very first episode, the panel meets with Dr Sharath Srinivasan, director of Cambridge's Centre of Governance and Human Rights. No one understands these important, foundational questions of human rights better than him. Trust us, we've checked.