Human Rights: Conversations Across Generations

As a young girl, Zolal Habibi blew out the candles on her birthday cake with a wish for a free Iran. It was a hope nurtured by her parents, whose commitment to human rights shaped her childhood. Decades later, that wish remains at the heart of her life's work. Growing up in a family deeply rooted in human rights activism, Zolal understood the meaning of courage and sacrifice from an early age. Her...

For Ericka Fusilier, a commitment to serving others began long before she became a national leader at VOA, formerly Volunteers of America, one of the nation's oldest and largest human services organizations. As VOA celebrates 130 years of service in 2026, Ericka joins us to discuss the organization's enduring mission, its impact on communities across the United States, and the importance of dignit...

For more than five decades, Hurst Hannum has helped shape the practice and understanding of international human rights law. From his early legal work in Northern Ireland during the Troubles to his scholarship on sovereignty, self-determination, and the responsibilities of states, Hurst has spent his career confronting some of the most difficult questions in international law. Professor Emeritus of...

Fresh off the whirlwind of New York City's Climate Week, Alex Miskho , a climate lawyer and environmental justice advocate, returned home to the Midwest feeling energized with a renewed sense of optimism. Following a week of conversations with community organizers, scholars, activists, policymakers, and more, what stood out to her was a focus on global solutions. Alex joins us for today's episode...

In Hawaiian, Kuleana means "Our Responsibility." 'Āina means "The Land".  For generations, Sara Kehaulani Goo's family has held onto their ancestral land on Maui's eastern coast. In her memoir, Kuleana, Sara takes us through the high and low tides of protecting this land. And the profound responsibility to care for it while honoring those who came before. More than 90 acres, stretching from the ro...

Today's guest is Elisa Massimino, one of the nation's leading human rights advocates and Executive Director of the Human Rights Institute at Georgetown University Law Center. For more than three decades, Elisa has worked at the intersection of human rights, national security, refugee protection, and U.S. foreign policy. Before joining Georgetown, she spent 27 years at Human Rights First, including...

Alice Achan is the Founder and Executive Director of the Te-Kworo Foundation, a community-based organization providing education, maternal and child healthcare, and social protection to girls, women, and children in northern Uganda. Founded in 2002, Te-Kworo has grown to include three boarding schools and has educated more than 4,000 girls, while its healthcare programs have expanded from mobile c...

Professor Paul Hunt is a British-New Zealand human rights lawyer and Emeritus Professor at the University of Essex. His work has been particularly influential in advancing social rights and establishing the right to health as a practical human rights framework. Paul served on the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights before becoming the first UN Special Rapporteur on the...

Across the United States and around the world, legal protections for LGBTQIA+ communities are being tested in ways that would have been difficult to imagine just a decade ago. Courtrooms have become battlegrounds over gender identity, conversion therapy, marriage equality, and the recognition of queer families. At the same time, governments in dozens of countries continue to criminalize same-sex r...

Ruth Kimani has spent more than two decades working alongside communities across Africa to address some of the world's most complex human rights challenges. Today, as Head of Programs for Africa at the Freedom Fund , she leads initiatives across Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Nigeria that have invested more than $26 million in frontline partners and directly impacted more than 223,000 people through...

Human rights defenders are often the first to expose injustice, challenge those in power, and protect the rights of the world's most vulnerable communities. They also face extraordinary risks for doing so. For more than five decades, Hans Thoolen has worked to ensure these courageous individuals are recognized, protected, and never forgotten. Today, Hans focuses much of his work on advancing the p...

Human rights defenders are essential to every movement for justice. They expose abuses, defend their communities, challenge those in power, and help advance the rights many of us rely on every day. Yet across the globe, the space for this work is rapidly shrinking, making the defense of human rights itself an increasingly dangerous act. Our guest is Guadalupe Marengo, Head of Amnesty International...

Professor Terry Coonan is the Founder and Executive Director of the Florida State University Center for the Advancement of Human Rights and Associate Professor of Criminology at Florida State University. Terry has created an interdisciplinary home for students and faculty working across law, film, social work, religion, and public service. Before he founded the FSU Center, Terry was one of Profess...

Professor Manfred Nowak has helped shape international human rights law for more than four decades. An Austrian human rights lawyer, academic, and former United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, Manfred has spent his career investigating some of the world's most hidden human rights violations. His work has taken him into prisons, detention centers, and conflict zones across the globe. Along t...

We are so lucky to welcome Brian Derrick, Founder of Oath, to the show. Oath is a data-driven political giving platform designed to help donors make more strategic decisions about where to direct their contributions. By analyzing thousands of races across the country, Oath helps donors identify candidates and campaigns to support. Brian is one of Meredith's favorite go-to political strategists, he...

Today we are joined by Professor Tara Van Ho, a leading scholar in the field of business and human rights whose work examines the growing intersection of corporate power, economic inequality, international law, and human dignity. Tara is a Professor of Law and Director of the International Legal Studies Program at St. Mary’s University School of Law. Prior to joining St. Mary’s, she taught at the...

Iain Guest is a journalist, human rights advocate, founder of The Advocacy Project, and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he taught human rights after decades of work across international media, the United Nations, and grassroots advocacy movements around the world. From documenting disappearances in Argentina and producing BBC documentaries, to w...

Professor Richard Ashby Wilson joins us for a timely and important conversation on human rights, hate crime enforcement, authoritarianism, and the widening gap between laws written on paper and justice experienced in everyday life. A longtime colleague and friend of Professor Bert B. Lockwood, Richard is currently Professor of Anthropology and Co-Director of the Princeton University Human Rights I...

We are thrilled to welcome Professor Dina Francesca Haynes, Executive Director of the Schell Center for International Human Rights at Yale Law School, and a nationally recognized expert in immigration and refugee law, human trafficking, and gender and conflict. Her work has taken her to some of the world’s most challenging environments, including Rwanda, Bosnia, and Afghanistan, where she worked a...

In this episode of Human Rights: Conversations Across Generations, we welcome Professor Joe Tomain, former Dean of the University of Cincinnati College of Law and the Wilbert and Helen Ziegler Professor of Law, a distinguished scholar in energy law and policy and a longtime colleague and supporter of the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights. Drawing on decades of leadership in higher education...

This week, we welcome Professor Mark Gibney to the show. Mark Gibney is the Carol G. Belk Distinguished Professor at UNC Asheville, longtime director of the Political Terror Scale, and one of the leading voices in international human rights scholarship. He is a longtime friend and colleague of Professor Bert Lockwood, marking more than 40 years of friendship this year. Meredith’s own friendship wi...

"The theater places stories in front of hearts and minds as an experience that is living and transforming." These words from award-winning playwright and librettist Catherine Filloux capture the visceral power of the arts in the pursuit of human rights. For over 30 years, Catherine has used her creative compass to navigate the complexities of genocide, displacement, and environmental justice. An a...

We are honored to welcome Lacey Stone to Human Rights: Conversations Across Generations. As the Chief Development Officer at USA for UNHCR , the U.S. partner of the United Nations Refugee Agency, she works at the intersection of philanthropy, partnerships, and global humanitarian impact. With more than two decades of experience across organizations, including UNICEF USA, PATH, and St. Jude Childre...

This week, we welcome Dr. Xanthe Scharff to the show. She is the Managing Director for External Affairs and Editor-at-Large at the Freedom Fund , where she works to strengthen global efforts to end modern slavery by supporting and investing in frontline partners who are closest to the problem and best positioned to drive lasting change within their own communities. With more than 20 years of exper...

In this episode of Human Rights: Conversations Across Generations, we are joined by Julie Leftwich, founder of the International Peace and Security Initiative at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and a deeply respected voice in peacebuilding, international law, and human rights. Julie brings to this conversation a remarkable body of work shaped by years of engagement with conflict, diplo...