Justice Matters

Mar 03 2025 88 ep. 31 mins 1.1k
Justice Matters Podcast artwork

Investigating matters of human rights at home and abroad. Listen to the podcast by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, hosted by Executive Director Maggie Gates and a team of Harvard faculty members acting as co-hosts, including Mathias Risse, Aminta Ossom, Rob Wilkinson, Kathryn Sikkink, and Yanilda Gonzalez.

  News  Government  Education
RSS feed Share
Copy RSS


Subscribe on Podcast Addict


A Life in Human Rights

Mar 03 2025 35 mins  
On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Douglas Johnson, former director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy from 2013-2017 and Lecturer on Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. On the occasion of his retirement from the university he reflects on his work over a long career in human rights including: his multiple decades of work at t

Standing Up for LGBTQI+ Rights in Uganda

Feb 18 2025 41 mins  
On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Kasha Nabagesera, Ugandan LGBTQ+ rights activist and Executive Director of Freedom & Roam Uganda (FARUG), about her decades of work. In today’s conversation, Mathias and Kasha discuss: Kasha’s origins as an activist standing up for LGBTQI+ rights, why Uganda is so hostile towards LGBTQI+ people, Bombasti

The Untold History of Slavery and Resistance in California

Feb 03 2025 39 mins  
On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Jean Pfaelzer, award-winning historian and Professor Emerita of English, Asian Studies, and Women and Gender Studies at the University of Delaware, about her 2023 book, California, A Slave State, which investigates California’s histories of enslavement. Together, they discuss: why California merits the des

Radio as a Tool for Change in Syria

Jan 23 2025 30 mins  
On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Maggie Gates talks with Lina Chawaf, CEO of Radio Rozana and fellow at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism. Radio Rozana was created in 2013 in the aftermath of the Arab Spring to examine the conflict in Syria with a focus on women’s voices for an audience of over 8 million listeners. Chawaf has a long career in journalism leading

Championing Democracy in Myanmar: Three Years After the Military Coup

Jan 13 2025 40 mins  
In this episode of Justice Matters, co-host Maggie Gates speaks with Burmese human rights defender Wai Wai Nu and her colleague Hana Seita about their work in Myanmar. Wai Wai Nu spent seven years as a political prisoner in Myanmar and upon her release founded the Women’s Peace Network (WPN) and the Yangon Youth Center. Through WPN she advocates for justice, works to build peace

Mobilizing Black Germany

Dec 16 2024 32 mins  
In this episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Tiffany Florvil, associate professor of history at the University of New Mexico and fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. She is a 20th century cultural historian of Germany whose work focuses on Black Germans and their creation of new intellectual, cultural, and political practices. She is the author of Mob

Fighting the Stigmas Against Intersex Peoples

Dec 03 2024 45 mins  
On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Diego Garcia Blum speaks with Kimberly Zieselman, an intersex woman, lawyer, and human rights advocate with over 25 years of experience in nonprofit leadership. Currently, she serves as a Senior Advisor to the Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons at the U.S. State Department and is also a senior advisor for Gl

Finding Peace in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Nov 18 2024 27 mins  
On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Amani Matabaro Tom, educator and community organizer from Eastern Congo who is currently a Scholar at Risk at the Carr Center. Amani is a co-founder of Action for the Welfare of Women and Children in Congo (ABFEC), which possesses several core initiatives: entrepreneurship training, community farming, HIV/AI

Building Just Technologies of the Future

Nov 04 2024 37 mins  
On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Maggie Gates speaks with Albert Fox Cahn, founder and executive director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP). STOP litigates and advocates for privacy to ensure that technological advancements don't come at the expense of age-old rights. As a lawyer, technologist, and activist, Albert has become a leading voice on

(Re)Building Nations with Indigenous Governance

Oct 14 2024 30 mins  
On today’s episode of Justice Matters, co-host Mathias Risse speaks with Megan Minoka Hill, the Senior Director of the Project on Indigenous Governance and Development and the Director of the Honoring Nations program at the Harvard Kennedy School. The Project on Indigenous Governance and Development works with Indigenous people to provide them with the tools they need to build or