Rights & Wrongs

Dec 02 2024 13 ep. 26 mins 7

Rights & Wrongs Podcast artwork

Rights & Wrongs is a bi-monthly podcast from Human Rights Watch. It explores stories from the places where abuses are unfolding around the world, through the eyes and ears of the people on the frontlines. Human Rights Watch investigators span the globe and work in more than 100 countries, producing dozens of meticulously researched reports every year. Host, Ngofeen Mputubwele, takes listeners behind the scenes of these in-depth investigations. Go to hrw.org to find out more about our investigations and hrw.org/podcast/donate to support the work we do.

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"The Sacrifice Zone," Redux - According to AI

Dec 02 2024 40 mins

When Robert Taylor bought land and began to build a home in St. John Parish in Louisiana, he envisioned a compound that would house his family for generations to come. But living in this 85-mile stretch of land along the banks of the Mississippi River that is home to some 200 fossil fuels and petrochemical operations has taken its toll. Known as Cancer Alley, Taylor now hopes his g

Now What?

Nov 18 2024 32 mins

Donald Trump built his reelection campaign off big promises – among them, the mass deportation of migrants, retaliation against political opponents, deploying the military to crush dissent, and allowing states to decide abortion rights. Having won a second term as the President of the United States, the question is, now what? Ngofeen Mputubwele talks to three Human Ri

There's No Such Thing as a Virginity Test

Nov 03 2024 24 mins

Gen. Sri Rumiati served as a policewoman in Indonesia for decades, but her life’s work became centered around protesting a policy of the state security forces. When she was summoned for military service, she was shocked to learn that she was required to take a virginity test. The Indonesian military and police held the misogynistic belief that female soldiers and officers needed

Paradise Lost

Oct 21 2024 30 mins

In the late 1960s, the United Kingdom made a deal allowing the US to build a military base on Diego Garcia, one of 58 islands that make up the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The UK, which had colonized the islands in the 1800s, claimed there was “no permanent population” in Chagos. But that was a lie. Several hundred Chagossians lived on those islands. T

There is No Safe Place

Oct 06 2024 25 mins

Finn Lau, a Hong Kong activist, was taking his daily walk along London’s River Thames when Chinese government thugs beat him up. Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was filing paperwork at a Saudi consulate in Turkey when Saudi government assassins murdered and dismembered him. And Bi-2, a dissident Russian-Belarusian rock band, narrowly avoided being forcib

From Mass Graves to Mass Incarceration

Sep 22 2024 26 mins

President Nayib Bukele came to power in El Salvador on a promise of ending gang violence. He succeeded, turning a state that was the world’s murder capital into to one with one of the lowest homicide rates in the Western Hemisphere. But in the process, he systematically dismantled democratic checks and balances and arbitraril

The Chalk Bicycle

Jul 15 2024 25 mins

Since April 2023, more than a half-million people have been displaced in Sudan due to fighting between two armed forces who were once aligned. The story of how the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces turned on each other, with devastating consequences for Sudan’s civilians, can be traced back to 2013 when a group of dissidents were told by their interr

Protesting a Dictatorship in a Dictatorship

Jul 01 2024 27 mins

In the early aughts, a campaign to “Save Sudan” became the bipartisan issue of the time. Celebrities and politicians alike implored a global audience to pay attention to and advocate against Suan’s human rights crisis. As interventions waned, so did the attention of many global onlookers. But, since the Sudan Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces began fighting in A

"The Sacrifice Zone"

Jun 17 2024 34 mins

When Robert Taylor bought land and began to build a home in St. John Parish in Louisiana, he envisioned a compound that would house his family for generations to come. Now, Taylor hopes that his grandchildren don’t have to live in this “Sacrifice Zone.” The Taylors’ home is situated in what’s known as Cancer Alley, an 85-mile stretch of land along the banks of the M

They Fired on us Like Rain

Jun 02 2024 31 mins

In 2023, Human Rights Watch researcher Nadia Hardman came across a letter the United Nations had sent to the government of Saudi Arabia expressing concern over the killing of Ethiopian migrants who were attempting to enter the kingdom. Migrants from the Horn of Africa had long used the so-called “eastern migration route” through war-torn Yemen in the hope of getting emplo