On Human Rights

Ehsan Qaane was a Research Fellow for the Afghanistan Programme in 2023. Prior to this, he worked with Afghanistan Analysts Network, a policy researcher organisation, as a political and legal affairs researcher (2012-2022) and as the country director (2017-2020). He is a member of and adviser to several human rights networks in Afghanistan, including the Afghanistan Forensics Science Organisation (AFSO) and Transitional Justice Coordination Group (TJCG). He has published a vast amount of research on the conflict in Afghanistan, the International Criminal Court’s engagement in Afghanistan, human rights and international humanitarian law. He worked as a visiting professional at the International Criminal Court.

David Cingranelli is a Professor of Political Science at Binghamton University of the State University of New York. He also is the Co-director of the Binghamton University Human Rights Institute. He has written widely on human rights, democracy, governance, and labor rights. He is a champion of the quantitative, scientific study of human rights. He is a former President of the Human Rights Section of the American Political Science Association. He, Skip Mark of the University of Rhode Island, and Mikhail Filippov of Binghamton University co-direct the “CIRIGHTS” data project, which is the most comprehensive and widely used human rights data set in the world. The 2023 Global Rights Report uses those data to show that worker rights are among the least protected of all internationally recognized human rights. You can see David discussing on producing indicators of national human rights practices: https://youtu.be/20QAIi1BVI4 And argue that we need national human rights report cards: https://academicminute.org/2023/05/david-cingranelli-binghamton-university-the-need-for-national-human-rights-report-cards/ More on CIRIGHTS: https://web.uri.edu/artsci/wp-content/uploads/sites/1132/2023-Human-Rights-report-PDF-Final.pdf

Mr. Vishal Prasad is the Campaign Director of the Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, a youth-led organization campaigning for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on climate change and human rights. He is from Suva, Fiji, and has studied international politics and law at the University of the South Pacific. He has been part of the ICJ advisory opinion movement since 2019 and is also part of the global ICJ advisory opinion movement under the World’s Youth for Climate Justice. As part of the ICJ advisory opinion campaign, he has a strong focus on securing the Pacific youth demands on the protection of the rights of current and future generations from the adverse effects of climate change.

She is a Pakistani activist, entrepreneur, writer, and disability rights advocate, known for her efforts to promote inclusivity and equality for people with disabilities in Pakistan. Tanzila Khan has been actively involved in raising awareness about the challenges faced by individuals with disabilities and working towards creating a more accessible and inclusive society. She has also gained recognition for her writing, using her platform to address social issues and advocate for positive change. She founded Girlythings.pk for menstrual kits in Pakistan. At 16, she wrote 'A Story of Mexico,' funding community projects. Through Creative Alley and "Iwish," she supports SDGs. Recognized with awards, she made the film "FruitChaat" and launched "Brain Masala," Pakistan's first accessible podcast. In May 2022, she won the Amal Clooney Women’s Empowerment Award in London.

Hanifa Girowal was a young female politician, and human rights advocate who served as Kabul’s deputy governor on socio-economic and development affairs, managing development and funding projects, mitigating conflicts, and providing essential services to Kabul residents. Previously, she worked with the Afghanistan Independent human rights commission (AIHRC), where she contributed to creating the independent human rights and gender units in Afghanistan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF). She published the first report on the situation of Afghan women in ANDSF, bringing a dramatic change in the situation of women serving in the police, intelligence, and armed forces, from a rise in their pay to help them get access to professional development programs that qualified them to obtain leadership positions. Hanifa is also a managing partner and senior advisor to Alpha Afghanistan, a non-profit organization that is working to help young Afghan innovators and social thinkers to turn their ideas into actions to foster social change in the country through technology. Girowal holds a master’s degree in public international law from Brunel University London, which she acquired through Chevening Scholarship. Hanifa has also served as a trainer on Women’s leadership, Good Governance, and Sustainable development goals with the United Nations Institute for training and research (UNITAR).”

Dr. Claudia Ituarte-Lima is Leader of the Human Rights and the Environment thematic area and senior researcher at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Her work unites legal analysis and sustainability science for examining environmental and human rights governance challenges and innovative levers to address them. She has bridged the human rights and biodiversity “communities of practice” through leading research such in the Biodiversa project on safeguarding ecosystems and human rights through law and regulation. Read more here: https://rwi.lu.se/human-rights-and-the-environment-2/

Matthew Scott is senior researcher and leader of the Human Rights and the Environment thematic area at the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. He is also adjunct senior lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Lund University. His work focuses on integrating social science perspectives with international legal standards to promote context-sensitive, human rights-based law, policy and practice relating to disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation. His primary area of expertise concerns migration and displacement in the context of disasters and climate change, on which he has published a monograph entitled Climate Change, Disasters and the Refugee Convention (CUP 2020), an edited volume entitled Climate Change, Disasters and Internal Displacement in Asia and the Pacific: A Human Rights-Based Approach (Routledge 2021) and a range of book chapters and academic articles. Current research interests concern the role of local authorities in addressing climate- and disaster-related migration and displacement. Read more on RWI s work on climate change adaptation here: https://rwi.lu.se/human-rights-and-the-environment-2/

Mahmouda Sonia Eqbal is a Research Fellow at RWI Afghanistan Programme shares insights on her latest research report titled "Afghan constitutions and the placement of education." shedding light to women and girl´s education in Afghanistan.

In this podcast we talk with a human rights activist within the Women! Life! Freedom! movement about Narges Mohammadi and her lifelong work. She is the Iranian human rights activist that received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 on Sunday 12 of September, for her lifelong work and activism on human rights and Women’s rights in Iran. Most of her adult life Narges has been politically active- from publishing a book of political essays and joining the Defenders of Human Rights Center to being arrested multiple times for her criticisms of the Iranian government, her open support of feminist civil disobedience and the abolition of the death penalty in her country. Currently she is the vice president of the Defenders of Human Rights Center (DHRC), headed by her fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi. A month ago, in October 2023, while still in prison and despite the condemnation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Narges was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”. Yet, her work doesn’t not stop even if she is in prison. Since November 2021 and during the Mahsa Amini protests in 2022, Narges has published multiple reports on the life conditions in Evin Prison and the human rights breaches that solitary confinement imposes. Her latest book “White Torture” centred around solitary confinement, has been translated to German, titled “Women! Life! Freedom!” and published this year.

Ms. Evelyn Adzovi Addor is a Climate Youth Negotiators Programme-trained Loss and Damage Negotiator for Ghana and the African Group of Negotiators. She is a development communications professional and the communications lead at EcoCare Ghana, a right-based natural resources and environmental advocacy non-governmental organisation in Ghana. Evelyn is passionate about designing campaigns to increase climate change awareness and influencing climate policy at the local, national and international levels. She is also a trained Climate Reality leader, and a member of the African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET), Forest Watch Ghana and the Youth in Natural Resources and Environmental Governance Platform. Through her work, Evelyn develops and implements stakeholder engagement strategies to safeguard the rights of people living in forest-fringed and vulnerable local communities in Ghana. As part of EcoCare Ghana’s Cocoa Governance and Advocacy Project, she works on protecting the lands rights of Migrant Cocoa Farmers in the Wassa Amenfi East District of Ghana, securing Tree Tenure Rights for farmers and Living Income for Cocoa Farmers in Ghana. As a member of FEMNET, Evelyn works in solidarity with other women across the continent to promote the voices of African Women in Climate Change at the local, national and international levels. She has been active in the youth climate space in Ghana, enhancing youth voices and has been instrumental in youth-led campaigns in Ghana such as the Anti-Coal Campaign, Renewable Energy for Communities, Climate Strikes, and Save Atewa Forest Campaign among others

Neshan’s professional experience includes engagements with Government, non-government, bilateral and multilateral sectors and was a former member of the international civil service. Neshan Gunasekera has a background in international law, human rights, international relations, programme and project management and has worked to promote environmental considerations within the humanitarian-peace-development nexus. He has served as visiting faculty and examiner at several tertiary educational institutions, teaching public international law, human rights law, and humanitarian law. He holds a master’s in international Relations with a focus on Sustainable Development and has completed specialized trainings in various areas including on peacebuilding, conflict transformation and environmental governance. He has supported several clinical legal education initiatives, including moot courts. In 2020, he was recognized for his continuous work over decades for Justice, Peace, and Sustainable Development, especially in South Asia and Sri Lanka, through his engagements with various global, regional and national institutions by being awarded the H.E. Judge C.G. Weeramantry International Justice Award. His interests are in furthering principles of international law and environmental law, including specifically the principles of intergenerational equity and Earth trusteeship through educational initiatives to safeguard the integrity of our Earth system. Neshan is married to Bridgette and they have a son, Aryesh Kael.

Mohammad Abul Ahrar Ramizpoor is an Afghan academic, Peace and Human Rights activist who has served as a lecturer at Kabul University, Sharia and Law faculties, where he completed his BA studies in Islamic Jurisprudence and Law in 1990. He is currently an Afghan Research Fellow at RWI. Mr. Ramizpoor is a council member of the Pugwash Conferences organization, the Afghanistan Human Rights Defenders’ Committee, and the Afghanistan Human Rights Coordination Mechanism. He has been closely engaged in his collaborations with several national, regional, and global organizations on promoting peace, human rights, and analytical thoughts on Islamic Law, Human Rights, free society values, peace, and the market economy. Since July 2007 to 31 March 2022, Ramizpoor has served as a Human Rights officer at the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), actively engaging with Afghan civil society groups, human rights defenders, media, and peace activists.

With firsthand professional experience both as a delegate at international forums representing her homeland and in the classroom, Prof. Romero brings a unique perspective to the Maritime Law and Policy Specialisation. She lectures on International Organisations and Maritime Conventions, the Law of the Sea, and the Protection of the Marine Environment and oversees these courses. In addition, she organises the annual Moot Court Competition, which focuses on current issues of the Law of the Sea, along with a field study trip to The Hague and Hamburg. She has also received an invitation to lecture at the IFLOS Summer Academy, hosted at ITLOS in Hamburg, Germany.

Alyn Ware is a peace educator and nuclear disarmament consultant from New Zealand. In 2009, he received the Right Livelihood Award for his vast efforts to promote peace education and disarmament. The Right Livelihood Award, also known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize,” is an international award given annually to honor individuals, organizations, and movements that have made significant contributions to the promotion of social justice, sustainable development, and environmental protection.

Jules Han Amm is a PhD candidate at Uppsala University with most of their work focusing on the trans community and its internal disputes as well as legal frameworks of informed consent, self-determination, and trans healthcare access. Jules acquired a Bachelor’s in development studies and Master’s in Gender Studies from Lund University. In this episode, they talk with Zoi Savvidou about recent developments on trans rights, the pathologisation of the trans identity and the interconnectedness of LGBTQIA+ rights with human rights.

Marthe is a Cameroonian human rights, gender and peace activist. Since the 1990s, she has worked to prevent and fight sexual violence against children. She founded her organization ALDEPA in 1998, where she supports the well-being of girls through education, bro-bono legal assistance and psychosocial care. In 2019 she was awarded the Right livelihood award for her work in defending the rights of local communities affected by the exploitation of natural resources in Cameroon.

Morten Koch Andersen, expert on human rights and corruption explains

Richard Bennett - Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan. by The Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and the 16 Days Campaign against SGBV, we met with Tyson Nicholas and Julia Dalman to discuss the issue of Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV). Tyson Nicholas is currently the Staff Officer Gender, Peace and Security in the Royal Australian Navy. He has previously served as the Military Expert on Investigations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the UN Department of Peace Operations and will soon commence another period of seconded service as the Strategic Military Advisor within UN Women. He graduated from the LLM in International Human Rights Law at Lund University in 2019. (www.linkedin.com/in/tyson-nicholas-898b00153) Julia Dalman is a legal analyst at the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations (NCGM). She graduated from the International Human Rights LLM at Lund University in 2021. ( www.linkedin.com/in/julia-dalman-846b16146) Our conversation is to be released in a two-parts podcast series. This is the second episode.

On the occasion of this auspicious day, we met with Tyson Nicholas and Julia Dalman to discuss the issue of Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV). Tyson Nicholas is currently the Staff Officer Gender, Peace and Security in the Royal Australian Navy. He has previously served as the Military Expert on Investigations of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the UN Department of Peace Operations and will soon commence another period of seconded service as the Strategic Military Advisor within UN Women. He graduated from the LLM in International Human Rights Law at Lund University in 2019. (www.linkedin.com/in/tyson-nicholas-898b00153) Julia Dalman is a legal analyst at the Nordic Centre for Gender in Military Operations (NCGM). She graduated from the International Human Rights LLM at Lund University in 2021. ( www.linkedin.com/in/julia-dalman-846b16146) Our conversation is to be released in a two-parts podcast series. In the first episode (released on the 25th of November 2022), Julia and Tyson offered an introduction to CRSV. After defining CRSV and explaining how it differs from Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), the discussion moved on to the significance of the association of CRSV with the terms ‘tactic of warfare’. Following, Julia and Tyson talked through the different paths for prosecution at both national and international level