Justice Matters

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, Mathias Risse speaks with Zoë Hitzig, former research scientist at Open AI who recently left the company due to ethical concerns about the way the company was developing its advertising strategy. She wrote about her decision to leave in a recent op-ed in the NY Times . Zoë received her PhD in economics from Harvard in 2023 and is currently a fellow at the Har...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Heather Ann Thompson- Pulitzer Prize winning author and Professor of History at the University of Michigan - about her new book “Fear and Fury: The Reagan Eighties, the Bernie Goetz Shootings, and the Rebirth of White Rage” . In their conversation they discuss: the 1984 subway shooting of four black boys - Barry Allen, Darrel...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Maggie Gates speaks with Neha Sanghrajka, Kenyan negotiator, mediator, and scholar whose career has shaped some of the most consequential peace processes of our time — from working alongside Kofi Annan during Kenya's 2007 post-election crisis to serving as a key architect of the landmark 2019 Maputo Accord that ended decades of conflict in Mozambique....

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Tirza Leibowitz, Deputy Director of Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) about the organization's decades of work providing medical services in Israel-Palestine.  Together they discuss: Tirza’s background in disability rights in Israel-Palestine before joining PHRI, the difference between the international organization P...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Maggie Gates welcomes Omer Shem Tov and Leat Corinne Unger, cousins who rose to prominence following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023. Omer is a survivor of the Nova Music Festival massacre who was held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 505 days. Leat is his American cousin who dropped everything to advocate for the hostage families followin...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Dr. Christos Christou, outgoing president of Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF) a medical humanitarian organization that coordinates tens of thousands of medical staff to provide emergency aid to people in crisis in over 75 countries. Together they discuss: Dr. Christou’s background that led him to huma...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, guest host Timothy Patrick McCarthy - faculty chair of the Global LGBTQI plus Human Rights Program - speaks with Laura Murphy, about forced labor and human rights. Laura Murphy is a professor at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK and one of the leading global experts on forced labor.   Together they discuss: what led Laura to this work,  the role of storyt...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Brandon Terry, a political theorist at Harvard University whose work seeks to reshape how we understand African-American political thought, especially the memory and meaning of the civil rights movement. Today they discuss topics related to his recently published book, “Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the...

On today's episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Yuval Shany, fellow at the Ethics in AI Institute at the University of Oxford. They discuss his recent white paper, “The Need for and Feasibility of an International AI Bill of Human Rights,” and the topics it touches on around AI’s profound impact on the understanding and implementation of rights. Other topics they discuss i...

On today's episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Dr. Kelsey Leonard, a water scientist and legal scholar from the Shinnecock Indian Nation. They discuss the fundamental role of water in life, ecosystems, and human rights, particularly focusing on Indigenous perspectives on water justice.  Dr. Kelsey Leonard is a water scientist, legal scholar, policy expert, writer, and enr...

On today's episode of Justice Matters, co-host Maggie Gates speaks with Judith Abitan, international human rights advocate and the executive director of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, about her work in fighting for the freedom of political prisoners in entrenched systems of oppression. Judith has been at the forefront of some of the most pressing human rights issues of our time, imm...

On today's episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Lobsang Sangay - political leader of the Tibetan administration in exile from 2011 to 2021 - about Tibet’s future. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama turned 90 earlier this year, which has brought renewed attention to the question of how the succession would be handled in the country that has been occupied by China since 1950....

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, host Phuong Pham - associate professor at the Harvard Medical School, T.H. Chan School of Public Health, affiliated faculty member of the Carr-Ryan Center, and co-principal investigator at the Transitional Justice Evaluation Team (TJET) - speaks with Lisa Chung Binder, Siraj Khan, and Jerome Marston about attacks on education around the world. Lisa Chung Bind...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, we’re marking Human Rights Day, observed every year on December 10th to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly in 1948. To mark the occasion Co-host Mathias Risse speaks with four of our Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy Fellows to share their perspectives on why human rights still matter and why th...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Robin Bronen, co-founder of the Alaska Institute for Justice (AIJ) about the pressing effects of climate change on communities in Alaska - the fastest warming region in the United States - and the implications for human rights.  A human rights attorney and interdisciplinary social scientist on the issue of climate-forced disp...

On today's episode of Justice Matters, co-host Maggie Gates speaks with Antonio Ingram II, Senior Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, about the impact of anti-diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) legislation on educational equity and political participation. Antonio Ingram II serves as lead counsel in the Simon v. Ivey lawsuit challenging Alabama's SB 129 law that prevents state agencies, local b...

On today's episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji who served as president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 2018-2021. Together they discuss his new book, “End of Immunity: Holding World Leaders Accountable for Aggression, Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity.”  Prior to joining the ICC in 2012, Judge Eboe-Osuji was the Legal...

On today's episode of Justice Matters, co-host Timothy Patrick McCarthy speaks with Dr. Leo Varadkar, the former Taoiseach, or Prime Minister, of Ireland from 2017-2020 and again from 2022-2024. Together they discuss a range of topics on contemporary human rights and global democracy on the occasion of Dr. Varadkar’s new memoir, “Speaking My Mind”. Leo Varadkar grew up in Dublin, the son of an Iri...

On today's episode of Justice Matters, co-host Maggie Gates speaks with Dr. Keisha Blain, Professor of Africana Studies and History at Brown University, about her new book “Without Fear: Black Women and the Making of Human Rights.” A 2022 Guggenheim Fellow and 2022 Carnegie Fellow, Dr. Blain is one of the most innovative and influential young historians of her generation. An award-winning historia...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Ken Roth, former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch about his new book “Righting Wrongs: Three Decades on the Front Lines Battling Abusive Governments”. Ken Roth was executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) from 1993 to 2022. In the three decades under his leadership, Human Rights Watch conducted investigations in...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters co-host Maggie Gates speaks with Anna Romandash about the impacts of misinformation in the global narrative around the war in Ukraine. Anna Romandash is an award-winning journalist from Ukraine and an author of “Women of Ukraine: Reportages from the War and Beyond” (2023). She has spent years documenting human rights violations, digital threats, and misinforma...

Justice Matters is celebrating its 100th episode today with co-host Mathias Risse's conversation with Jessica Stern about the state of LGBTQI+ rights around the world. Jessica Stern is one of the world’s most distinguished LGBTQI+ human rights leaders. Appointed by President Joe Biden, Stern served as the U.S. Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer,...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters co-host Aminta Ossom speaks with Yara Sallam about the experiences of women human rights defenders in Egypt and Tunisia as well as her personal history following the Arab Spring that led her to write about burnout and well-being in human rights activism. Yara Sallam is a prominent feminist activist and human rights defender who has worked for several Egyptian...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Lex Zard, Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center, about recent developments concerning the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the Europe Union in regulating consumer data protection, how that compares to US regulatory models, and what this means for human rights in the digital space. Lex Zard is a legal scholar w...

On today’s episode of Justice Matters co-host Maggie Gates speaks with Lucy Ferris about the all volunteer network of professors from around the world educating women in Afghanistan. Professor Ferris is the co-founder and president of the board of Afghan Female Student Outreach (AFSO), a volunteer non-profit organization committed to helping return Afghan women to intellectual and professional lif...