Human Rights Unscripted is a podcast from the American University Washington College of Law that takes a deep dive into the human rights field through candid interviews with professionals, professors, and students.
Today, on Unscripted, we speak with SUNY Oswego Professor Ulises Mejias on how big data companies extract and use our data, possibly the most valuable resource in the modern era.
Want to learn more? Read Professor Mejias's book! (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo216184200.html)
Data Grab: The New Colonialism of Big Tech and How to Fight Back (https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo216184200.html)
5 Mar 2026
ICE Detention Center Expansion: A Threat to Undocumented People and Federalism Itself
Today, on Unscripted, we spoke with Devin Luqman, an immigration attorney in Frederick, Maryland. Mr. Luqman's efforts have helped on a wide and small scale, from providing legal representation to people in these uncertain times of customs enforcement, but also advocating against the construction of enormous and violative ICE facilities in his community.
25 Feb 2026
GQUAL And Its 10-Year Effort to Promote Gender Parity in International Legal Tribunals with Professor Claudia Martin
Today, on Unscripted, Professor Claudia Martin discusses the foundation of GQUAL, their successes and lessons from 10 years of work, and what still needs to be done in the quest for gender parity across the international legal sphere.
11 Feb 2026
Highlighting the Experiences of Stateless People with Karina Ambartsoumian-Clough
Today on Unscripted, we speak with Executive Director of United Stateless Karina Ambartsoumian-Clough about her family's personal difficulties fleeing their homeland, growing up without a country, and the legal difficulties she experienced while trying to receive the most basic documentation and support.
Learn more about United Stateless, including the Award-Winning Film 'Citizens of Nowhere,' at https://www.unitedstateless.org/
27 Jan 2026
The Human Rights Implications of Technology, Censorship, and Surveillance with Professor Eduardo Bertoni
Many of us can't imagine daily life without modern technologies like social media, cameras, and AI. Despite the budding debates on the utility of these emerging technologies, human rights practitioners are grappling with the uncertainty on exactly how they will impact autonomy, privacy, and the human condition. On this episode of Unscripted, Professor Eduardo Bertoni discusses both his trepidation and tentative hope regarding emerging technology regulation.
16 Jan 2025
Climate Change and Human Rights Lawyering
Climate change is a human rights crisis that affects all of us. We sat down with Professor David Hunter to discuss the risks these disasters pose, how communities can build resilience against their worst impacts, and the legal battles against the world’s largest polluters.
14 May 2024
Women's Rights in Iran with Shima Bozorgi
Shima Bozorgi is pursuing her S.J.D. from American University Washington College of Law. She is working on her dissertation, reviewing the nexus of human rights and national security in the Middle East. After earning her law degree from the University of Tehran, Shima worked on children’s rights and child labor issues. She has over ten years of experience with government and non-government organizations. She is currently a Coordinating and Executive Committees Member and Vice President of the Phoenix Project of Iran - a non-profit organization conducting interdisciplinary research into sociopolitical, economic, and environmental aspects of Iran.
22 Apr 2024
Indigenous Rights & the Environment with Professor Ezra Rosser
Ezra Rosser is a Professor at American University Washington College of Law. He has taught courses in Federal Indian Law, Poverty Law, Land Use, Housing Law, Wills, Trusts, & Estates, and Property Law. He is the author of A Nation Within: Navajo Land and Economic Development published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. He is a past chair of the AALS Property Law, Poverty Law, and Indian Nations and Indigenous Peoples Sections. His articles have appeared in journals including the California Law Review, the Harvard Law & Policy Review, Washington University Law Review, Yale Human Rights & Development Law Journal, Environmental Law, and the American Indian Law Review.
This interview was conducted by Christine Cha, Human Rights Brief Junior Staffer and student at American University Washington College of Law.
15 Apr 2024
Dr. Marija Jovanovic: Modern Slavery
Marija Jovanović is an Associate Professor at the Essex Law School in the UK. Her research focuses on modern slavery and its intersection with different legal regimes, such as human rights law, criminal law, labour law, immigration law, and international trade and business regulation. She is the author of State Responsibility for ‘Modern Slavery’ in Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2023). Dr Jovanović is currently leading a research project on the experiences of modern slavery survivors in the UK prisons.
This interview was conducted by Veronica Dulin, Human Rights Brief Junior Staffer and student at American University Washington College of Law.
19 Mar 2023
International Human Rights: Law and Labor
Join us for a conversation with Professor of Law David Snyder on the intersection of international contracts, commercial law, and human rights. In addition to being a professor of law at the Washington College of Law and the director of the Business Law Program, Professor Snyder is an elected member of the American Law Institute, a member of the International Academy of Comparative Law, and has served on the board of directors of the Washington Foreign Law Society and the board of editors of the American Journal of Comparative Law.
To learn more about Professor Snyder, click here (https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/snyder/bio).
3 Mar 2023
Polina Sidelnikova: Russia's Homefront - Human Rights
Join us for a conversation with Humphrey Fellow and Russian attorney Polina Sidelnikova for an in-depth discussion of human rights in Russia in the wake of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Ukraine.
13 Apr 2022
Caroline Ackerman: Dispelling Myths Around Sex Trafficking
Caroline Ackerman serves as Managing Attorney of Maryland cases and Special Projects at the Amara Legal Center, which provides free legal services to survivors of sex trafficking. Prior to working at Amara, she was an attorney at the New York City Administration for Children's Services. We spoke with Ms. Ackerman about common misconceptions people have about sex trafficking and the need for trauma-informed and survivor-centered lawyering when handling sex trafficking cases.
To learn more about Ms. Ackerman's work with the Amara Legal Center, click (here (https://www.amaralegal.org/caroline-ackerman/)).
2 Mar 2022
Darren Domah: Why Liberia Needs a War Crimes Tribunal
Darren Domah provides legal counsel for the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Liberia, and serves as a legal advisor to the Maryland Oil Palm Plantation and the Cavalla Rubber Plantation in West Africa. He is currently a Humphrey Fellow at Washington College of Law. We spoke with Mr. Domah about Liberia's turbulent past and why the country so desperately needs a war crimes tribunal.
For more information on Liberia, click (here (https://www.state.gov/countries-areas/liberia/)).
18 Nov 2021
Arturo Castellanos: The Right of Suffrage of Shosics (Non-citizens) in the United States
Arturo Castellanos is a Policy and Advocacy Associate at the National Immigration Forum. We spoke with him about the subject of his dissertation, the Right of Suffrage of Shosics (Non-Citizens) in the United States, and discussed the past, present, and future status of voting rights for non-citizens in America.
To access Arturo's dissertation, the Right of Suffrage of Shosics (Non-Citizens) in the United States, click (here (https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/70392)).
For more information on Arturo's work with the National Immigration Forum, click (here (https://immigrationforum.org/people/arturo-castellanos-canales/)).
8 May 2021
Robert Goldman: The Development of the International Human Rights Field
We sit down with Professor Robert Goldman, Louis C. James Scholar at the American University Washington College of Law, where Professor Goldman also serves as Faculty Director of the War Crimes Research Office and Co-Director of WCL’s Center For Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. In addition to teaching, practicing, and writing in the areas of International Human Rights Law and Terrorism, Professor Goldman is one of the leading authors of the creation of soft-law guiding principles and was elected President of the International Commission of Jurists. Professor Goldman shares his journey and thoughts on his experiences in the international human rights field.
To learn more about Professor Goldman, click (here (https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/goldman/bio)).
3 Apr 2021
Herman Schwartz: Changes in the American Legal Landscape
We sit down with Professor Herman Schwartz, Professor Emeritus of Law at the American University Washington College of Law, whose decades-long career has focused on issues of civil rights and civil liberties as they have played out in courts and prisons across the globe. He founded, among other causes, the ACLU Prison Project and formerly chaired the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty.
To learn more about Professor Schwartz, click (here (https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/schwartz/bio)).
6 Mar 2021
Juan Mendez: His Career in Human Rights
We sit down with Professor Juan Méndez, former Special Rapporteur on Torture and professor of International Human Rights at the American University Washington College of Law, where he also leads the Anti-Torture Initiative as Faculty Director with WCL’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. Professor Méndez shares with us his own story of getting started in human rights law and how the field has progressed throughout his career.
To learn more about Professor Méndez, click (here (https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/jmendez/bio)) or (here (https://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-torture/juan-mendez-former-special-rapporteur-2010-2016)).
To watch a short film on Professor Méndez produced by UN Human Rights, "Juan Méndez: Campaigner Against Torture", click (here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YC0GAVxoPs0)).
For more information on the Méndez Principles on Effective Interviewing for Investigations, click (here (https://www.justsecurity.org/76711/the-mendez-principles-a-new-standard-for-effective-interviewing-by-police-and-others-while-respecting-human-rights/)).
6 Feb 2021
Macarena Saez: The Political and Emotional Meaning of "Family"
We sit down with Professor Macarena Saez, now Executive Director of the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, whose main areas of research are the role of sexual orientation and gender identity in family law, and comparative regulations of sex as an economic activity. Professor Saez shares her experience both professionally and personally working on the Karen Atala and Daughters v. Chile cases.
To learn more about Professor Saez's current work with HRW, click (here (https://www.hrw.org/about/people/macarena-saez#)).
30 Jan 2021
Claudio Grossman: Being a Political Refugee
We sit down with Dr. Claudio Grossman, former chairperson of the UN Committee Against Torture and former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, who also served as the Dean of American University Washington College of Law for 21 years. Professor Grossman shares his journey and experiences as a political refugee fleeing Chile in 1973 and explains how his career in international human rights developed over the years.
To learn more about Dr. Grossman, click (here (https://www.wcl.american.edu/community/faculty/profile/grossman/bio)).
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 34 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
45
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
60
Contact Human Rights Unscripted
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of Human Rights Unscripted?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
