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We are delighted to announce the launch of The Defender of Human Rights; a podcast series that explores the work and lives of courageous people who defend our human rights.
You can listen to episodes of The human rights defender via one of the following channels: Spotify And Apple Podcastsor further down on this page.
In the first season, we will delve deeper into the Western Balkans and Turkey. In recent years, democracy and the rule of law have come under increasing strain in the region, while those who oppose abuses of power and human rights violations face threats, intimidation and physical attacks. Governments are shamelessly mobilizing institutions, state-controlled media and organized right-wing groups to silence and repress their struggle for freedom.
Against all odds, human rights defenders continue their fight and this series of podcasts aims to relay their voices to the entire world. From activists to academics, independent journalists and human rights lawyers, we’ll hear about their experiences defending our fundamental rights from the front lines.
Why they dedicated their lives to their cause; what were the main obstacles in their journey; what support should be provided to victims; how to effectively monitor and communicate violations, as well as a general overview of the human rights situation in the region, are some of the many topics we will discuss with guests.
Plus, throughout the series, we’ll chat with key authors and players in the Report on human rights defenders in the Western Balkans, which was published in December 2019 by Civil Rights Defenders and takes a deeper look at the legislative and practical implications of human rights work in the six Western Balkan countries. The full report is available here.
Episode 1: Ivan Djuric, Program Director of YIHR Serbia
Ivan shares his thoughts on the difficult challenge of changing the mentality of Serbian youth towards the war in the 90s and creating an environment in which human rights defenders are respected and not harassed.
Episode 2: Osman Isci, Secretary General of the Human Rights Association (Turkey)
As thousands of activists, journalists, academics and dissidents have been prosecuted in recent years, Osman sheds light on the extremely precarious situation of human rights defenders in Turkey and his own personal motivations for devoting his life to the cause .
Episode 3: Dr Biljana Kotevska, research coordinator, European Policy Institute (EPI) – Skopje
Biljana tells us about the success of human rights defenders in uncovering a captured state that violated human rights and abused power, the disproportionate challenges that human rights defenders and LGBTI+ people still face in North Macedonia, as well as of the importance of human rights research to ensure accountability.
Episode 4: Lorin Kadiu, Executive Director, Citizens Channel (Albania)
As Albanian civil society struggles with restrictive measures introduced to combat the pandemic, Lorin talks about the challenge for independent media to report freely in the midst of a real communications crisis.
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