On Human Rights

In our latest episode of “On Human Rights” we spoke with Michael McEachrane and Morten Kjaerum about racism in Europe and Black Lives Matter. Michael McEachrane is a Visiting Researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. His current research focus is on postcolonial/decolonial perspectives on human rights, structural racial discrimination and reparatory justice. Michael McEachrane is a regular commentator on issues of race for international as well as Swedish media. Morten Kjaerum is the Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute. Prior to that, he was the first Director of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in Vienna from 2008 to 2015. He is currently also Chair of The Board of the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE). He was a member (2002-2008) of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and its follow-up rapporteur from 2006-08. the first Independent Expert and Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment appointed by the

On this episode of On Human Rights, RWI's Christina Geijer sits down with Ms. Dunja Mijatović, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights. Dunja Mijatović speaks about the current state of human rights in Europe, the threats and opportunities if member states come together.

In this episode of ‘On Human Rights,’ RWI’s Russell Garner sat down with Marissa Jackson Sow, who is a research fellow at the Open Societies Foundation, to talk about the personhood project and dive deeper into contract law and human rights discourse in the United States. Marissa Jackson Sow is an attorney and scholar specializing in human rights, the law of diplomacy, and racial, gender, and environmental justice. She is the former Deputy Commissioner for New York City Commission on Human rights. She will join the Open Society Foundation as a Fellow in 2020, where she will document and amplify the human rights activism of Black women in the United States in the post-Obama era. Enjoy the podcast!

On this episode of On Human Rights, Director of the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, Morten Kjaerum, speaks about the changes he has seen in human rights over the past decade. The end of the year is a time to reflect on the past and look towards future opportunities and challenges. We discuss the influence that digital technology, increased youth participation, the Sustainable Development Goals and climate change have all had on the direction of human rights discourse.

In this episode of 'On Human Rights,' Senior Researcher Alejandro Fuentes speaks to OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, Ambassador Lamberto Zannier. They discuss the importance of public participation of national minorities, the impacts of the current political environment in Europe and the need for balance and integration of diverse societies.

In our latest episode of “On Human Rights” we spoke with John Knox, the first Independent Expert and Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment appointed by the Human Rights Council. We discussed the relevance of human rights to the environment and the steps necessary to protect human rights in the era of worldwide climate change.

In our latest episode of “On Human Rights," we sat down with Janet Lord to discuss the protection of persons with disabilities, the nexus between humanitarian law and human rights in the context of disability as well as the impact of Article 11. Janet Lord is currently a Senior Fellow at Harvard Law School Project on Disability. She specializes in areas such as human rights treaty negotiation and implementation, disability law and policy, health rights for marginalized populations, inclusive development and human rights education and advocacy. She has worked with a variety of inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations and donors, such as the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Disability Program, UNDP, the European Union and the World Bank. Enjoy the podcast!

In this next episode of On Human Rights, we speak to Anders Langworth. He is the founder of Bankers For Climate, an initiative that encourages increased focus and action from leaders of the financial industry.

In today’s podcast, we speak to Nike Sandberg, spokesperson for the Afro-Swede Network in Skåne. RWI’s visiting researcher Michael McEachrane sat down with her to talk about her work and the situation for Afro-Swedes in the country.

In our latest episode of “On Human Rights," we sat down with Dr. Charles C. Jalloh. He is the Fulbright Lund Distinguished Chair in Public International Law (2018-2019) at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute and in the Lund University Faculty of Law, Sweden. Dr. Charles C. Jalloh is a professor of law at Florida International University, Miami, USA, and a member of the International Law Commission where he was the Chair of the Drafting Committee for the Seventieth (2018) Session. He is founding editor of the African Journal of Legal Studies and the African Journal of International Criminal Justice.

The European Commissioner for Competition, Margrethe Vestager, said on Monday that digital businesses should pay their fair share of tax in the EU. The Commissioner touched on a wide range of issues, from democratic control and the threat of power in the digital world to taxation and privacy. Vestager was delivering the 14th annual Anna Lindh lecture in Lund, Sweden. Her speech was titled “Democracy and Power in a Brave New World: Economy, Technology and Human Rights." "The digital transformation that we’re going through today is affecting almost every part of our world. We’re finding that we need to look again at the rules and regulations that govern our lives, to make sure they strike the right balance between the needs of the different parts of our society.

In our latest episode of “On Human Rights," we sat down with James A. Goldston. He is the executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative and a leading practitioner of international human rights and criminal law. He has litigated cases before the European court of Human Rights and United Nations treaty bodies. For example, he has worked on issues of counterterrorism, racial discrimination, and torture. Goldston says the challenges that illiberal movements and leaders pose to human rights is a moment of reckoning for many. He says: “I think it’s a moment for self-reflection perhaps on strategies for things we might have pursued or things we’ve overlooked. And a moment of genuine possibility for us to reimagine what the human rights movement can be, how it can relate not just to the grand architecture and formal laws and institutions which are created, which are important, but also to how people experience rights in practice, or the absence of rights in practice.” In addition, Goldston believes

François Crépeau, the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants speaks with Matthew Scott, RWI's Team Leader for People on the Move, about migration, its causes, effects and the attitudes surrounding it. “My generation is very afraid because we lived our childhoods in the fifties and early sixties, it was not a mobile world yet and it was not a diverse world. We are afraid of this diversity that has appeared around us without us suspecting that it would come. I think that the generation of our children, who are living in a world that is diverse and mobile, will not fear that. They will come to power in 20,30, 40 years with a completely different attitude towards cultural, religious, linguistic diversity and towards mobility. It will be a generational change.”

In 2016, a United Nations study found that more than 40 million people around the world were victims of modern slavery – forced labour and forced marriage. What's more, it was recently discovered that unaccompanied minors immigrating to Sweden have been working under slave-like conditions. So, RWI is sitting down with Urmila Bhoola, the UN Special Rapporteur to Contemporary Forms of Slavery, its Causes and Consequences, to find out more.

This episode of ’On Human Rights’ features the full length seminar on the role of business in the violation and protection of human rights. The discussion took place at this year’s Mr-Dagarna (human rights days) in Stockholm, Sweden and was a collaboration between the Raoul Wallenberg Intstitute, Forum Syd, Swedwatch, Diakonia, Amnesty International, Naturskyddsföreningen (Swedish Society for Nature Conservation), Afrikagrupperna and FIAN Sverige. Frances Quimpo Dungueto, Baskut Tuncak, Jakob Kiefer, and Luisa Book discuss the dangers of being a human rights defender and how business have the potential to directly and indirectly influence human rights practices. RWI’s Stockholm Office director, Malin Oud moderates the event.

On this episode of ‘On Human Rights’ RWI, Stockholm Office Director, Malin Oud, sat down with the Ambassador for Sustainable Business at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Jakob Kiefer at the recent MR-Dagarna (human rights conference) in Stockholm, Sweden. The conversation focuses on the roles and responsibilities of businesses in regards to the protection of human rights. It took place just before a seminar on human rights defenders and business. You can also listen to that full seminar on this channel, ‘On Human Rights.’

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But is it really universal? A growing number of states are claiming that human rights are incompatible with their culture. In this episode of On Human Rights, Jamie Bowd sits down with Professor Emeritus in International Law at Stockholm University and the Swedish National Defence College and former board member at RWI, Ove Bring to discuss how historical examples of human rights practices around the world have contributed to the modern understanding of human rights.

Despite increased food production and reduction of hunger and malnutrition on a global level, there are four countries in Sub Saharan Africa and the Middle East still suffering from famine. Recently, the trend of reduction of hunger and malnutrition has reversed. Jemimah Watkins sat down with Hilal Elver, EU Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, to discover why. In this podcast, they talk about natural disasters, gender, pesticides and conflict in relation to the right to food, as well as how to avoid food crises.

In this episode of “On Human Rights,” we meet Dr Helen Durham AO, the Director of the International Law and Policy at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Dr Durham is an Australian international humanitarian lawyer and took her time to talk to RWI about women in conflicts and explain why there is a need for a gender perspective on the laws of war.

As neo-Nazis ratchet up their rhetoric and activity before the Swedish election in September, our Stockholm office director Malin Oud sat down with John Stauffer, legal director at the NGO Civil Rights Defenders. In this podcast, they talk about hate speech, freedom of expression, the presence of neo-Nazis at the political week of Almedalen in Sweden and many other places around the country.