In this episode, we have the huge pleasure of speaking to Donatella Rovera, who is Senior Crisis Response Advisor at Amnesty International. Her focus has primarily been the Middle East, and she has investigated abuses in Gaza, Syria, Iraq under the control of the Islamic State, and numerous other trouble spots. Her work routinely puts her in a position of significant personal risk.  Listen to this episode to find out from Donatella about how she plans, conducts, and thinks about investigating human rights violations in conflict zones.Enjoy listening!Don’t forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media! Support the show

In this episode, we have an extra special interview about the just-decided European Court of Human Rights cases on climate change. We have an incredible expert with us to help us understand these decisions that came out just a few hours ago by the time of the recording. Judge Professor Helen Keller is Chair of International and Public Law at the University of Zurich, and a member of the Bosnian Constitutional Court. Crucially for our discussion today, she was also formerly a judge on the European Court of Human Rights. She currently leads a project at the University of Zurich on climate rights and remedies, and in fact has a pretty big conference on the topic coming up this week, and is herself both Swiss and based in Switzerland.For more on her work and resources on climate rights and remedies cases, visit: https://www.climaterights.uzh.ch/en.htmlEnjoy listening!Don’t forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media! Support the show

In this episode, we get to talk to Amy Kaslow.  She is a writer and photographer with a lens on at-risk societies worldwide. She's spent the past four decades writing, broadcasting, and photographing in the world's trouble spots, chronicling the immediate aftermath of conflict and well into the post-war period. She also does work within the United States, as well as with art and information today. We speak about how her career began and how she thinks about storytelling across time, place, and mediums. You can find out more about Amy's work in her gallery and with Know Now at: www.amykaslow.comEnjoy listening!Don’t forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we have the opportunity to speak to Dunja Mijatović, the outgoing Commissioner for Human Rights for the Council of Europe, a position she served in from 2018 to 2024.Listen to this episode to find out about her thoughts on the position and the state of human rights in Europe today. Enjoy listening!Don’t forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Professor Fernand de Varennes, who has just finished serving as the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues and is currently a visiting professor at the Université Catholique de Lyon and the University of Sarajevo.Our discussion in this episode builds on our conversation from the previous episode when we discussed the role of Special Rapporteur and some recent trends in this area. In this episode, we continue our conversation and think about ways to improve access to justice for minority rights.Enjoy listening!Don’t forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we get the opportunity to speak to Professor Fernand de Varennes, who just finished his role of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, and served from 2017 to 2023.Professor Fernand de Varennes is currently visiting professor at the Université Catholique at Lyon and at the University of Sarajevo. In this first episode, we focus on the role of Special Rapporteur and the professor's assessment of challenges facing minorities around the world. In the next episode, we'll continue our conversation to focus on problems with current tools for protecting human rights and discuss ways to improve access to justice and especially how grassroots efforts can help motivate reforms. Enjoy listening!Don’t forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we speak to Dr. Marina Aksenova. She's a professor of comparative and international criminal law at the IE University in Madrid. In this discussion, we go over her research background, her research interests that bring together not just international criminal law as is traditionally thought of, but many more aspects as well, and talk about gaps she sees in the international justice system and ways perhaps of addressing them.Enjoy listening!Don’t forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Nani Jansen Reventlow, who is an award-winning human rights lawyer specializing in strategic litigation at the intersection of human rights, social justice, and technology. Our discussion in this episode builds on our conversation in the previous episode, where we discussed Nani's background and her current work at systemic justice. In this episode, we discuss international law and rights more broadly, both in terms of problems and possible ways forward. For more info on Nani Jansen Reventlow go to: https://www.nanijansen.org/Enjoy listening!Don’t forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

Over the next two episodes, we talk to Nani Jansen Reventlow who is an award winning human rights lawyer specializing in strategic litigation at the intersection of human rights, social justice, and technology. In this first episode, we focus on her background and the organization she's founded called Systemic Justice, and the work that she and her organization do. In the second episode, we talk more about digital rights more broadly, about how the legal system works, some of the biggest gaps for justice she's identified, and some possible solutions.For more info on Nani Jansen Reventlow go to: https://www.nanijansen.org/Enjoy listening!Don’t forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Dr. Virginie Collombier and Dr. Wolfram Lacher, who are the editors of the recent book, 'Violence and Social Transformation in Libya', published by Hurst in 2023. In the first episode, we focused on how the book came to be and some of its core arguments and contributions. In this second part of our conversation, we discuss what the book might help us understand about the present and future of Libya.Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

Over the next two episodes, we speak with Dr. Virginie Collombier and Dr. Wolfram Lacher, who are the editors of the recent book, 'Violence and Social Transformation in Libya', published by Hurst in 2023. In this first episode, we focus on how the book came to be and some of its core arguments and contributions.In the second episode, we will focus on what the book might help us understand about the present and future of Libya.Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Phil Lynch, the Director of the International Service for Human Rights. Our discussion builds on our conversation in the last episode, when we discussed his career and explored some of the behind the scenes work of the organization. In this episode, we discuss institutional interactions and access to justice more broadly.Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

Over the next two episodes, we talk with Phil Lynch, the Director of the International Service for Human Rights. In this first episode, we focus on Phil's background and his work at the International Service for Human Rights. In the second episode, we look at the organization's interactions with the United Nations and Phil's perspective on justice and access more widely. Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Mirjana Lazarova Trajkovska. She is currently nominated as a judge candidate to the International Criminal Court, as she serves as a judge on the Supreme Court of North Macedonia, and she formerly was a judge on the European Court of Human Rights, and at the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia, among many other things.This discussion builds on our conversation in the previous episode where we discussed her background, her work on corruption and access to justice, especially within the context of the European Court on Human Rights. In this episode, we talk about her candidacy for the International Criminal Court and her thoughts on the future of international law.Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

Over the next two episodes, we talk to Mirjana Lazarova-Trajkovska. She is nominated as a judge candidate for the International Criminal Court. She currently serves as a judge on the Supreme Court of North Macedonia, and she formerly was a judge at the European Court of Human Rights and at the Constitutional Court of North Macedonia among many other career accolades.In this first episode, we focus on her background, and her work on corruption and access to justice, especially within the European Court on Human Rights. Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Janet Anderson and Stephanie van den Berg, who are the hosts of the Asymmetrical Haircuts Podcast. Their podcast covers all sorts of topics, including justice for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and international law more broadly seeking especially to highlight the voices of female experts and people involved in the field. In the first episode, we focused on the behind-the-scenes of creating and running their podcast. In this episode, we speak more about what they've learned from doing the Asymmetrical podcast and over the course of their careers.To hear the Asymmetrical Haircuts podcast, go to: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/category/episodes/Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

Over the next two episodes, we talk to Janet Anderson and Stephanie van den Berg, who are the hosts of the Asymmetrical Haircuts podcast, which speaks to mainly female experts and commentators about topics including justice for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and much, much more.  In this first episode, we focus on some of the behind-the-scenes of creating and running their podcast and what brought them to create it in the first place. In the next episode, we'll discuss the podcast further as well as Janet and Stephanie's thoughts about international law and how it's developed over their time in the field.To hear the Asymmetrical Haircuts podcast, go to: https://www.asymmetricalhaircuts.com/category/episodes/Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Andreas Schüller, Director of the International Crimes and Accountability Program at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, the ECCHR. Our discussion in this episode builds on our conversation in the last episode when Andreas explained what he does at the organization and how the organization works to improve access to justice. We discuss the ECCHR's engagement with states, and Andreas helps us understand where some of the gaps are in the current international legal system and ideas for how access to justice could be improved.For more on the  ECCHR and Andreas' work, go to: https://www.ecchr.eu/Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this and our following episode, we speak with Andreas Schüller. He's the Director of the International Crimes and Accountability Program at the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, the ECCHR. In this episode, we focus on the ECCHR and his work there to understand how the organization works and what kinds of efforts they're making to improve access to justice.In the second episode, we'll focus more on thinking about the international system overall, where some gaps might be for access to justice, and ways that things could be improved.For more on the  ECCHR and Andreas' work, go to: https://www.ecchr.eu/Enjoy listening!Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show

In this episode, we continue the conversation with Dr. Iva Vukušić about her work. She is an Assistant Professor in International History at the Center for Conflict Studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and a visiting Research Fellow at the Department of War Studies at Kings College London.  Our discussion in this episode builds on our conversation in the last episode when we discussed her work and some of the main findings of her book titled "Serbian Paramilitaries and the Breakup of Yugoslavia - State Connections and Patterns of Violence" published in 2022.In this episode, we go further into our discussion about the politics of archives, access to memories, and access to justice. Enjoy listening!For more on Dr. Vukušić's book go to: https://www.routledge.com/Serbian-Paramilitaries-and-the-Breakup-of-Yugoslavia-State-Connections/Vukusic/p/book/9781032044453For her article on the archives of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia: "Archives of Mass Violence: Understanding and Using ICTY Trial Records" Comparative Southeast European Studies, vol. 70, no. 4, 2022, pp. 585-607  (open access), go to: https://doi.org/10.1515/soeu-2021-0050Don't forget to rate us, recommend us and share on social media!Support the show