Human Rights: Conversations Across Generations

About Human Rights: Conversations Across Generations

For over fifty years, Professor Bert B. Lockwood (https://www.law.uc.edu/faculty/directory/bert-b-lockwood.html)has had a front-row seat to the evolution of international human rights law. He is the longtime Director of the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights (https://www.law.uc.edu/academics-career/get-experience/centers/urban-morgan-institute-human-rights.html) at the University of Cincinnati College of Law and has served as Editor-in-Chief of Human Rights Quarterly (https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/human-rights-quarterly) since 1982. Now, he and his daughter, Meredith Lockwood (http://www.meredithlockwood.com), who has followed in his footsteps, are sharing that expertise with you. Human Rights: Conversations Across Generations is a podcast exploring the multifaceted and evolving world of human rights. Through engaging, intergenerational conversations, Bert and Meredith connect with distinguished guests from around the world, including Nobel Peace Prize recipients, political leaders, lawyers, scholars, activists, journalists, authors, and changemakers. Conversations span a wide range of important topics, including international human rights law, women’s rights and gender equality, racial justice, democracy and the rule of law, climate and environmental justice, migration and displacement, economic justice, modern slavery, and business and human rights. Through the personal stories and expertise of their guests, the show connects the history of the human rights movement with the urgent challenges shaping its future. If you have any suggestions for future guests or topics for conversations, please reach out to us. We would love to hear from you! Email: humanrightsconversations@gmail.com (mailto:humanrightsconversations@gmail.com) Website: www.meredithlockwood.com (http://www.meredithlockwood.com)

Publisher

Bert & Meredith Lockwood

Category

education · government · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

14 Oct 2025

Latest episode

22 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

36 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   22 Oct 2026

   Climate Change: A Case for Optimism with Alex Miskho

   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 to explore climate change, balancing the many challenges we face with the significant advancements being made to address them. Alex is a Fellow and Lecturer at the Abrams Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School. Previously a Senior Advisor to Secretary John Kerry in the Biden administration, she helped negotiate international climate agreements and advance policies on climate resilience. A graduate of MIT and Yale Law School, Alex's career spans engineering, environmental law, international diplomacy, and global human rights. “We are not asking for pity. We are asking for help in partnership.” This is a message to the world from 13-year-old Melelusi Sokotia in Tuvalu, a Pacific island nation where rising seas threaten the future of entire communities. Thousands of miles away, devastating floods along the Nepal-Tibet border have displaced families and upended lives. Their experiences bring us to one of the most pressing questions in climate justice: How do we protect the people most vulnerable to climate change while ensuring they have a voice in shaping their own futures? Climate change can feel overwhelming. It is important to remember that meaningful progress is happening in real time. Alex reminds us that progress is not measured by a single breakthrough. Every fraction of a degree matters. Every life improved matters. And every individual contribution has a place in the work ahead. SHOW NOTES Alex Miskho | University of Chicago Law School Key Research Discussed: weADAPT | Climate Adaptation Research and Resources: Research and case studies on climate adaptation, including planned community relocation International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD): Research on climate change, glaciers, and environmental risks in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, including Nepal United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR): Resources on disaster preparedness, resilience, and climate-related risks Organizations and Resources Al Jazeera: Girl Pleads for World Leaders to Save Her Country from Climate Change, October 7, 2026 More Perfect Union | We Went To The Town Elon Musk Took Hostage, February 19, 2025 More Perfect Union | THIS Is What It's Like Living Next to SpaceX and Elon Musk, October 7, 2026 Is a River Alive? by Robert Macfarlane: An exploration of rivers, their relationship with human communities, and the movement to recognize the rights of nature. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP): Scientific research and international environmental policy Earthjustice United Nations University Climate Week NYC The Climate Reality Project

2. 

   15 Oct 2026

   A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i with Sara Kehaulani Goo

   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 road to the sea. Land that has survived the overthrow of a kingdom, generations of displacement, and mounting pressure to sell. In 2019, an email from Sara's father, Dennis, popped up in her inbox with alarming news. The family's property taxes had increased by nearly 500 percent. Sara is an acclaimed journalist and author whose career has taken her from The Wall Street Journal to The Washington Post, NPR, and Axios. Today, she serves as President of The Washington Post's Creator Network. In Kuleana, Sara turns her reporter's eye toward her own family story, uncovering a history of Hawaiʻi that many of us were never taught. In our conversation, we go beyond the familiar image of Hawaiʻi as a lush tropical paradise. Sara guides us through Native Hawaiian land loss, the extreme wealth reshaping the islands, and the hardship on families to remain in their ancestral homeland. We discover how language, hula, and storytelling carry culture across generations. Together, Bert, Sara, and Meredith ask, "What do we owe those who came before us and those who will come after? You can explore Sara's work and purchase her book through her website: www.saragoo.com. SHOW NOTES Full Episode Transcript Sara Kehaulani Goo Sara's Bio: The Washington Post Her Memoir Kuleana “What Hula Taught Me”: The Atlantic Podcast: Story & Craft featuring Sara Kehaulani Goo, with Marc Preston Podcast: Justice Matters - “Protecting Native Land in Hawaii,” featuring Sara with Maggie Gates

3. 

   2 Oct 2026

   Elisa Massimino: Human Rights Advocacy in a Changing World

   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 a decade as President and CEO. Throughout her career, Elisa has testified before Congress dozens of times and helped shape some of the most consequential human rights debates in Washington. Following 9/11, she helped assemble an influential coalition of retired generals and admirals to challenge U.S. policies authorizing torture. In 2026, Washingtonian once again named Elisa among Washington, D.C.'s 500 Most Influential People, recognizing her work on torture and U.S. military assistance and human rights. Today, she brings those decades of experience into the classroom at Georgetown, helping prepare the next generation of human rights advocates. In this conversation, we begin with Elisa's own path into human rights, from philosophy and refugee advocacy to discovering what she describes as her calling. We explore the two qualities she believes effective advocates need: chutzpah and humility. Elisa takes us inside her Georgetown classroom, where students learn not simply to care about injustice, but to develop practical strategies for changing it, including listening to those who disagree, building unlikely coalitions, understanding power, and knowing when compromise can move an issue forward. We also examine the challenges facing democracy and human rights today, the importance of civic engagement beyond elections, and the rapidly evolving promise and danger of artificial intelligence. Elisa reflects on one of the defining campaigns of her career, the effort to end U.S. torture after 9/11, and why successful advocacy sometimes requires asking whether we want to make a point or actually make a difference. Throughout this episode, we return to an idea that has shaped both Elisa's work and ours: human rights begin in the places closest to us. Even amid rising authoritarianism and increasing challenges to democratic institutions, Elisa sees an opportunity to rebuild a broader movement for freedom, democracy, and human rights rooted in our homes, schools, communities, and everyday lives. SHOW NOTES Episode Transcript PDF Elisa Massimino: Georgetown Law, Visiting Professor of Law; Executive Director, Human Rights Institute Human Rights Institute: Georgetown Law Washingtonian: Washington DC's 500 Most Influential People of 2026 Chutzpah and Humility: Twin Virtues for Changing the World - Watch Elisa Massimino's Robert F. Drinan Chair Lecture at Georgetown Law Religion and Human Rights: A Conversation with Elisa Massimino - Read Elisa's conversation with Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Global South World: Interview "Don’t wait for the UN to act" Sara Kehaulani Goo: Her new book, Kuleana

Reach and audience

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Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

12 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

10 ratings

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Guest appearances

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