Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR’s Representative to the UK talks to The Rights Track about refugees. We get some hard facts and statistics on numbers of refugees and where they’re from, discuss the role of the 1951 Refugee Convention, ask whether Angela Merkel’s open invitation to refugees was moral or misguided and whether the UK is playing its part in protecting those fleeing war, famine and persecution.
In Episode 9 of Series 2 of The Rights Track, Evelyn Astor, Policy Officer at the International Trade Union Confederation in Brussels, talks about her organisation’s work to uphold the rights of workers around the world and the pros and cons of a universal basic income.
In Episode 8 of Series 2, Claire Thomas, Deputy Director of Minority Rights Group talks to Todd Landman about upholding the rights of minority communities around the world.
In Episode 7 of Series 2, Todd talks to the Programme Director of Human Rights Watch Iain Levine about how the NGO collects and uses evidence to bring about change.
In Episode 6 of Series 2 of The Rights Track, Todd talks to Meghna Abraham, Head of the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Team at Amnesty International about how the organisation’s work helps to uphold and advance human rights around the world. They also discuss, The Great Palm Oil Scandal, a report by Amnesty taking some of the world’s most popular food and household companies to task over human rights abuses in Indonesia.
In Episode 5 of Series 2 Todd talks to Professor Akbar Ahmed, one of the world’s leading experts on contemporary Islam, about the relationship between Islam and human rights.
In Episode 4 of Series 2, Dixon Osburn, Executive Director of the Center for Justice and Accountability in San Fancisco talks about how human rights organisations pursue justice, and what academic evidence is used to support efforts to prosecute the perpetrators of human rights abuses and crimes?
In a special episode of The Rights Track, sociologist and feminist, Monica Casper from the University of Arizona talks to Todd Landman about women’s rights in the President Trump era.
In Episode 2 of Series 2, Todd talks to Elisabeth Witchell, Impunity Campaign Consultant with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) about the human rights issues associated with being a journalist.
In Episode 1 of Series 2, we talk gay rights with Richard Beaven, successful businessman and Trustee of the LGBT campaign group Stonewall. Todd asks to what extent the struggle for gay rights has also advanced the human rights of the LGBT community and invites Richard to reflect on efforts made in recent decades to champions them. They also discuss the impact of political events such as the EU referendum and American election on hate crime and to what extent this might undermine the progress that has been made.
In Episode 12 of The Rights Track, Todd talks to Dr Karen Salt and Dr Christopher Phelps from the University of Nottingham about human rights in America through the lens of race. He asks his guests whether a Truth Commission might play a positive role in giving Americans the opportunity to pause for thought about some of the underlying problems facing American Society today.
In Episode 11 of The Rights Track, Todd talks to Professor William Paul Simmons from the University of Arizona about his work on marginalised groups and his latest research showing why we have reasons to be joyful about human rights.
In Episode 10 of The Rights Track, Todd talks to Professor Shareen Hertel from the University of Connecticut about the world of business and human rights. They discuss how the rights of poorer people can best be protected at work and how social and labour movements come together to prevent abuse and to lobby for change.
In Episode 9 of The Rights Track, Todd talks to professional lawyer and human rights researcher Professor Meg Satterthwaite from New York University about human rights advocacy. They discuss what it’s like working across academia and practice, the challenges around evidencing impact and the role of data visualisation in communicating findings effectively.
In Episode 8 of The Rights Track, Todd talks to Professor Rhoda Howard-Hassmann, International Chair of Human Rights at Wilfred Laurier University in Canada about state food crime, what it is, where it’s happening, why she believes it should be considered an international human rights crime and the challenges around prosecuting it.
In Episode 7 of The Rights Track, Todd asks Patrick Ball, Director of Research for the Human Rights Data Analysis Group, how and when statistics can be used to advance and protect human rights.
In Episode 6 of The Rights Track, Todd asks James Ron, Professor of International Affairs at the University of Minnesota, about public attitudes to human rights and his work comparing public attitudes in different countries towards them.
In Episode 5 of The Rights Track, Todd asks Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, Professor of International Affairs at the New School in New York, about human development and her work to develop a way of measuring and comparing how well countries do at upholding their social and economic rights obligations.
In Episode 4 of The Rights Track, Todd asks Kevin Bales, Professor of Contemporary Slavery at the University of Hull, about modern day slavery, the challenges in identifying and counting victims, his work on the Global Slavery Index and how it’s used to hold Governments and countries to account over the problem. He also discusses his book, Blood and Earth in which he looks at how modern day slavery and climate change intersect.
In Episode 3 of The Rights Track, Todd asks Professor Will Moore, Professor of Political Science and Global Studies at Arizona State University, about the challenges in trying to count the instances of torture and the data he and colleagues have developed to try to estimate those numbers accurately.
In Episode 2 of The Rights Track, Todd asks Professor Amanda Murdie of the University of Missouri about her research into whether and when NGOs are most effective on the ground. They discuss the work and role of NGOs and INGOs, the issues they face and the circumstances in which they can achieve the most.
In Episode 1 of The Rights Track, and on International Human Rights Day, Todd asks Professor Chris Fariss of Pennsylvania State University about the methods he uses to look at the human rights performance of countries around the world and whether over time we have become better at practising and upholding people’s human rights.
