Declarations

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)

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

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')