Critical Conversations on Human Rights: The Promise Institute Podcast

In this episode, the Promise Institute’s Kate Mackintosh speaks with Shirleen Chin and Daniel Bertram about how international crimes are created. Drawing lessons from the adoption of the crime of aggression at the International Criminal Court, and with reflections on the social and political processes involved in the creation of international law, the authors consider what might be the most promising path towards an international crime of ecocide.   Daniel Bertram is a PhD candidate at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, where he researches ecocide’s journey towards international criminalization. The fruits of previous research projects have appeared in Global Environmental Politics, Transnational Environmental Law, and the German Law Journal. Next to his academic endeavors, Daniel reports from multilateral environmental meetings for the Earth Negotiations Bulletin.   Shirleen Chin is the founder and director of Green Transparency, a consultancy firm that works on strategic advocacy, and she helps Stop Ecocide International (SEI) with political, legal and academic strategy. Her work has included participating in UCLA Promise Institute’s Working Group on the Proposed Definition of Ecocide, editing an Opinio Juris symposium series on Exploring the Crime of Ecocide as well as representing SEI at the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties and other multilateral events.  This podcast is one in a series of conversations with authors of the 15 short papers in our online symposium: The Crime of Ecocide – New Perspectives, which you can find on www.ecocidelaw.com/symposium. The site also hosts a regularly updated annotated bibliography, which lists and summarizes publications on ecocide, as well as information on proposed definitions and legal developments around the world. 

One of the most complicated aspects of defining an international crime of ecocide is the mental element. What level of knowledge, intention or recklessness as regards the consequences of their actions must someone have in order to be guilty of the crime? Very little serious environmental damage is caused purposefully; it tends to be a result of activity that is carried out for other reasons. But most international crimes require intentional harm.  In this episode, The Promise Institute’s Kate Mackintosh speaks with three international lawyers who offer their suggestions for how to solve this puzzle.   Luke Johnson is a 2nd year PhD student at Northumbria University investigating the definition of ecocide and how the crime may be implemented and enforced into practice.   Lisa Oldring is a doctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam, focusing on the crime of ecocide from a human rights perspective. A former senior UN human rights advisor, she is currently an advisor to Stop Ecocide International and Member of the Board of Directors, Avocats Sans Frontières Canada.   Darryl Robinson, Professor of Law at Queen’s University Faculty of Law, helped to negotiate the definitions of crimes in the International Criminal Court Statute, and was involved in the Promise Institute for Human Rights expert group on ecocide.    This podcast is one in a series of conversations with authors of the 15 short papers in our online symposium: The Crime of Ecocide – New Perspectives, which you can find on www.ecocidelaw.com/symposium. The site also hosts a regularly updated annotated bibliography, which lists and summarizes publications on ecocide, as well as information on proposed definitions and legal developments around the world. 

How does ecocide relate to other legal frameworks that are important to protecting our environment, such as human rights - including cultural rights, the rights of women and of Indigenous peoples - and the rights of nature?   Hosted by the Promise Institute’s Kate Mackintosh, the three authors in this episode consider these questions in the contexts of post-coup Myanmar and India’s sacred rivers, while foregrounding the importance of including the voices of those most affected in defining the crime.  Jonathan Liljeblad is a member of the Indigenous Pa'Oh peoples of Shan State, Myanmar, and Associate Professor at the Australian National University College of Law.  Gita Parihar works as an in-house legal consultant for NGOs and the UN on environmental and human rights matters. She is also interested in the connection between ecology and spirituality, as well as regenerative activism.  Camilla Taddei is a human rights advocate currently working as a consultant for the international non-governmental organization No Peace Without Justice. Her expertise and research interests are related to minorities and indigenous peoples, along with environmental protection and social justice through an intersectional perspective.  This podcast is one in a series of conversations with authors of the 15 short papers in our online symposium: The Crime of Ecocide – New Perspectives, which you can find on www.ecocidelaw.com/symposium. The site also hosts a regularly updated annotated bibliography, which lists and summarizes publications on ecocide, as well as information on proposed definitions and legal developments around the world. 

How would a crime of ecocide work in practice, and what would it contribute to the struggle against climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental degradation?   In this episode, our three guests speak with the Promise Institute's Kate Mackintosh to consider the difference an international crime of ecocide would make to the practice of bauxite mining in Jamaica; deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, and global wildlife crime.  Paulo Busse is a Brazilian criminal, environmental and human rights lawyer with over 20 years’ experience advising and representing human rights and environmental organizations. In collaboration with other lawyers, he has spearheaded a number of cutting-edge legal actions to protect the environment in Brazilian courts and advised on national ecocide laws.  Tameka Samuels-Jones is an Assistant Professor at York University and the Associate Director of York University’s Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean. Her research interests include environmental crime, Indigenous law in the Caribbean and regulatory law and emphasizes inclusivity in the development of environmental policies and laws particularly in countries in the Global South.   Olivia Swaak-Goldman is the Executive Director of the Wildlife Justice Commission. She has almost three decades of experience in international justice and diplomacy, including as Head of the International Relations Task Force of the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Senior Legal Advisor at the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Legal Advisor at the Iran-United States Claims Tribunal, and Legal Assistant at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.   This podcast is one in a series of conversations with authors of the 15 short papers in our online symposium: The Crime of Ecocide – New Perspectives, which you can find on www.ecocidelaw.com/symposium. The site also hosts a regularly updated annotated bibliography, which lists and summarizes publications on ecocide, as well as information on proposed definitions and legal developments around the world. 

We are witnessing a “firehose of falsehood” on the internet and in the media: mis- and disinformation that attempts to overwhelm the truth.  As deepfake and synthetic media technologies become more sophisticated and their use more prolific, it is becoming more and more vital to develop tools and systems to identify when media has been manipulated - often through fake or deceptive audio and video - to increase trust in our information ecosystem. This fourth installment of our Global Digital Rights Challenges series features Sam Gregory @SamGregory, Program Director at WITNESS @witnessorg and three Promise Fellows, Nick Levsen, Aya Dardari and Ani Setian. Hear Sam outline the work he is doing at WITNESS, including in consultation with actors in the Global South who have lived-experience of the impact of mis- and disinformation, and learn more about preparing for and pre-empting future deepfake crises by developing detection skills and ensuring equitable global access to media forensic tools. P.S. We have a small housekeeping note: The fifth conversation in this series is titled “Life Interrupted: the Impact of Internet Shutdowns” and in a way that is both oddly fitting and also unfortunate, the audio for that talk was throttled by - you guessed it - poor internet connectivity and is best enjoyed while watching the speakers in real time. It’s a fascinating exploration of the power of ISPs, government’s role in securing internet access, and the vulnerabilities when daily life relies on connectivity. Head over to our Promise Institute YouTube channel to watch Tomiwa Ilori speak with Mark Verstraete, and to round out our Global Digital Rights Challenges series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgqbQmIRMnM 

America exports many things, but its content moderation standards may be the most important. Activists and concerned citizens the world over use social media as a microphone to connect, mobilize and push for change - which makes the content rules that online platforms set and enforce enormously influential in shaping the global discourse. However, because these rules are often designed based on U.S. sensibilities and priorities, they can have an adverse impact on globally marginalized communities. Platforms can also be subject to pressure from governments, including those with poor human rights records, to crack down on dissent and opposition. In this third of our five-part series on Global Digital Rights Challenges, Promise Institute Assistant Director Jess Peake talks with Marwa Fatafta, MENA Policy Manager at Access Now, about the effect that the decisions of American platforms has on censorship of activists in the Middle East and North Africa, and how such actions impact fundamental human rights, censor dissent, and erase history.  Special thanks to our partners in this series, UCLA Law's Institute for Technology, Law and Policy.

While the internet may be a global medium, the vast majority of its rules are imposed by State actors and repressive governments are seeking new and innovative ways to port censorship to the online space.  Listen as Farieha Aziz @fariehaaziz of Bolo Bhi and Michael Karanicolas of UCLA Law's Institute for Technology, Law and Policy @uclatech discuss how governments like Pakistan face a tension between their desire to harness economic and social energies associated with internet access, and its potential to empower opposition voices, whistleblowers and civil society. 

Even if you think you understand the way technology affects your life, this episode is an eye-opener. The first in our five-part series on Global Digital Rights Challenges, this powerful conversation between Safiya Noble of c2i2 at UCLA and Tawana Petty of Data for Black Lives helps illuminate the ways technology and facial recognition are shaping our lives - for better and for worse. 

When laboratory researchers wanted to study the effects of solitary confinement, they had to obtain special permission because mimicking the isolation of solitary confinement was considered so cruel to the mice. From the social framework surrounding solitary confinement, to its neurological impacts, the Mandela Rules, why solitary confinement in the U.S. is so unregulated, and more, this episode offers an important and unshakeable look in to the human rights implications of solitary confinement's use. Discussion features Clara Long of Human Rights Watch, Jean Casella  of Solitary Watch, and was moderated by Promise Fellow, Seadimo Tlale.  

You’ve read the headlines about Myanmar, but have you heard for instance, what the parallels are between the US events of Jan 6th and Myanmar’s current military coup?  What was the internet's role in the military’s oppression of civilians?  And how the law has played into, and been contorted by, Myanmar’s junta? Our Assistant Director Jess Peake sat down for a candid conversation with Pwint Htun of the Myanmar Program at the Harvard Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation.  Pwint’s insights paint a vivid picture of the internal displacement, the pervasive terrors of the military’s lawless behavior, and why constitutional law will be a cornerstone in rebuilding Myanmar from the ground up.

What does neuroscience have to do with human rights advocacy? How can shifting a storytelling framework backfeed a large organization's entire strategy for human rights change? Promise Institute Executive Director Kate Mackintosh sat down with our visiting professor and former Head of Impact and Learning for Amnesty International, Danny Vannucchi, to discuss all this and more. Together they explore the nuanced and evolving landscape that is impacting the way large human rights organizations approach their social impact campaigns from the ground up - and working.

The Facebook Oversight Board's recent decision about the platform’s indefinite ban of former President Trump applies international human rights law to content moderation.  Promise Institute Assistant Director Jess Peake sat down with Michael Karanicolas, Executive Director of UCLA Law's new Institute for Technology Law and Policy, to discuss the Board's formation, the Trump decision, how social media platforms are handling their responsibilities to freedom of expression, and the tensions between being a global business and being a global platform for potentially disruptive and dangerous content.For further reading, the paper mentioned in the podcast is available here:  Michael Karanicolas, Squaring the Circle between Freedom of Expression and Platform Law, 20 Pittsburg Journal of Technology Law & Policy 177, 2020 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3599100

Corporations sometimes facilitate crimes across national borders, yet even in instances where this takes place knowingly, accountability can be hard to come by. This panel discussion from our 2021 Symposium, Corporate Liability for International and Transnational Crimes, offers an excellent in-depth look at how human rights litigators are navigating the landscape. Discussion includes innovative ways to approach these cases, focus on the clients, holistic assessments of what's needed, and insights into specific cases panelists have worked on. Moderation by Catherine Sweetser, Deputy Director of the Promise Institute for Human RightsAgnieszka Fryszman, Cohen MilsteinMiriam Saage-Maaß, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR)Monalisa, International Human Rights LawyerMarissa Vahlsing, EarthRights International

As the need for an international prohibition of ecocide becomes clearer and clearer across the globe, a key panel of experts has been working to craft a definition of this new crime. This episode features a conversation hosted by BBC Africa correspondent, Andrew Harding, with some of the people working to make the prohibition of ecocide a reality (including our very own Executive Director, Kate Mackintosh).The conversation highlights the history of the crime of ecocide, and how the language of the crime must be carefully constructed to provide as valuable a legal tool as possible to protect our planet home. This event was recorded in December 2020, as a side event of the 19th Assembly of States Parties. It was co-hosted by Stop Ecocide Foundation, Institute for Environmental Security, and the mission of Vanuatu. Additional panelists include: Philippe Sands QC, barrister at Matrix Chambers and Professor at University College LondonMarie Toussaint, Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA)Judge Tuiloma Neroni Slade, former ICC judge

As we round the grim milestone of a year under the COVID pandemic, conversations now rightfully center on equitable vaccine distribution. This includes looking to South Africa's work with HIV/AIDS treatment, big pharma, and intellectual property rights.  It also means squaring the traditional approaches to public health with the very real risk that by violating human rights to health with COVID vaccines, the entire world is left vulnerable to slipping back into cyclical pandemics because variants are most likely where the vaccine is least present. Moderation by Lara Stemple, Assistant Dean for Graduate Studies and International Student Programs Director, Health and Human Rights Law ProjectBrook Baker, Professor of Law, Northeastern University, and Senior Policy Analyst, Health Global Access ProjectUmunyana Rugege, Executive Director of Section 27Marlise Richter,  Senior Staff at the Health Justice InitiativePetition discussed in the episode:  https://tinyurl.com/FTPLC19 

In this episode of the Promise Institute Podcast, Promise Institute Faculty Director Asli Bâli talks with Jennifer Trahan, Ambassador David Scheffer and Mohammad Al Abdallah about Professor Trahan's new book: Existing Legal Limits to Security Council Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes.  With a particular focus on the situation in Syria, they discuss the UN Security Council veto to block action in the face of atrocities and discuss Professor Trahan's proposals.Jennifer Trahan is a Clinical Professor at NYU's Center for Global Affairs and Director of their Concentration in International Law and Human Rights.David Scheffer is a former US War Crimes Ambassador.Mohammad Al Abdallah is the Executive Director of the Syrian Justice and Accountability Center.You can buy Professor Trahan's book Existing Legal Limits to Security Council Veto Power in the Face of Atrocity Crimes from Cambridge University Press here.

In this episode of the Promise Institute Podcast, Assistant Director Jess Peake interviews Dr. Sorcha MacLeod about the human rights implications of the increased use of private security in the context of Covid-19 and the need for more regulation.Dr. Sorcha MacLeod is an Associate Professor and Marie Curie Individual Fellow at the University of Copenhagen Faculty of Law, in the Centre for Private Governance (CEPRI).  She is an internationally recognised expert on business, human rights, and security, in particular the regulation and human rights impacts of Private Military and Security Companies (PMSC).  In 2018, Dr MacLeod was appointed as an independent human rights expert to the UN Working Group on the use of Mercenaries established under the Human Rights Council's Special Procedures.  She is also an invited expert to the UN Open-ended Inter-governmental Working Group on PMSCs and participated in the drafting of the Montreux Document on Private Military and Security Companies and the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers. She has Observer Status at the International Code of Conduct Association and advises governments, Civil Society Organizations and industry on human rights.

In this episode of the Promise Institute Podcast, Margaret Rose-Goddard of the Future Law Institute speaks with Promise Institute executive director Kate Mackintosh and Jojo Mehta from the Stop Ecocide Foundation about developing a new international crime of “Ecocide” to address environmental harms.  This conversation took place at the Future Law Virtual Summit: FLVS2020.Margaret Rose-Goddard is a lawyer, anti-corruption and transparency advocate, and a serial social entrepreneur driven to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges through policy, innovation and empathy.Jojo Mehta co-founded the Stop Ecocide campaign in 2017 and is now Chair of the Board of the Stop Ecocide Foundation in the Netherlands.  She is the convener of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide chaired by Philippe Sands QC and Justice Florence Mumba.Kate Mackintosh is the Executive Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA and a co-chair of the Independent Expert Panel for the Legal Definition of Ecocide.Read more about the Independent Expert Panel here.

In this episode of the Promise Institute podcast, international human rights lawyers Charity Ryerson, William Aceves, and Promise Institute Deputy Director Catherine Sweetser discuss the amicus briefs Ryerson and Aceves filed on behalf of fair trade chocolate companies and on behalf of foreign lawyers in the Nestle v. Doe I case currently before the Supreme Court.Charity Ryerson founded a nonprofit, Corporate Accountability Lab (CAL), after years of litigating complex international human rights cases.  Corporate Accountability Lab uses human-centered design and innovative legal thinking to work towards a world where companies are held legally accountable when they harm people and the environment. William Aceves is on the faculty at California Western School of Law where he teaches international law, human rights law, and constitutional law.  He is the author of the book The Anatomy of Torture and co-author of The Law of Consular Access.  He frequently works with and files briefs on behalf of human rights organizations such as Amnesty International, the Center for Justice and Accountability, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union. He is an alumnus of the UCLA School of Law.The amicus briefs filed by CAL on behalf of fair trade chocolate companies can be found here and here.The amicus brief filed by William Aceves on behalf of foreign lawyers explaining how corporate liability functions in other legal regimes can be found here.

In this episode of the Promise Institute Podcast,  Executive Director Kate Mackintosh talks with Leymah Gbowee and Madeleine Rees about feminist principles for an international post-COVID-19 settlement.Leymah Gboweewas the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and is currently the Executive Director of the Women, Peace and Security Program at Columbia University.Madeleine Rees is the Secretary General of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.Read the Feminist Principles for an International Post-COVID-19 Settlement here: https://webshare.law.ucla.edu/promiseinstitute/feminist-principles-for-a-post-covid-19-settlement.pdf