RightsUp: The Oxford Human Rights Hub Podcast

In this episode, we are exploring some of the key themes in Professor Sandra Fredman’s monograph, Discrimination Law – the new, third edition of which was published by Oxford University Press in December 2022. Sandra Fredman FBA KC is Professor of the Laws of the British Commonwealth and the USA at Oxford University, a fellow of Pembroke College Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Human Rights Hub. She is joined in conversation by Rosalie Abella, formerly a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada; Jayna Kothari, a Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of India; and Helen Mountfield KC, a barrister practising at Matrix Chambers in the UK and Principal of Mansfield College Oxford.

In this episode, we are exploring some of the key themes in Professor Sandra Fredman’s monograph, Discrimination Law – the new, third edition of which was published by Oxford University Press in December 2022. Sandra Fredman FBA KC is Professor of the Laws of the British Commonwealth and the USA at Oxford University, a fellow of Pembroke College Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Human Rights Hub. She is joined in conversation by Rosalie Abella, formerly a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada; Jayna Kothari, a Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of India; and Helen Mountfield KC, a barrister practising at Matrix Chambers in the UK and Principal of Mansfield College Oxford.

In this episode, we are exploring some of the key themes in Professor Sandra Fredman’s monograph, Discrimination Law – the new, third edition of which was published by Oxford University Press in December 2022. Sandra Fredman FBA KC is Professor of the Laws of the British Commonwealth and the USA at Oxford University, a fellow of Pembroke College Oxford, and Director of the Oxford Human Rights Hub. She is joined in conversation by Rosalie Abella, formerly a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada; Jayna Kothari, a Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court of India; and Helen Mountfield KC, a barrister practising at Matrix Chambers in the UK and Principal of Mansfield College Oxford.

In October 2023, a historic decision was made by the Indian Supreme Court that held that there was no fundamental right to marry, denying the legal recognition for same-sex marriage in India under the Special Marriage Act. Frances Hand sat down with Devina Malaviya, to discuss the intricacies of this case Supriyo v. Union of India. Devina Malaviya is an Assistant Professor of Legal Practice and Assistant Dean in Clinical Legal Education at O.P. Jindal Global University. Devina's interests lie in the area of family law, constitutional law and criminal law. After graduating from National Law University in Delhi in 2016, she worked as a law clerk, cum research assistant with Justice Kurian Joseph at the Supreme Court of India.

Vox pops on key human rights issues with human rights experts. Transcript available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website (ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/).

In this week's episode, we talk to Ruth Rubio, Professor in the School of Transnational Governance at the European University Institute, about her book, Global Gender Constitutionalism and Women’s Citizenship: A Struggle for Transformative Inclusion, published by Cambridge University Press (ISBN: 9781316630303).

Transcript available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk

In this episode, we spoke to Dr. Saeed Bagheri, lecturer of International Law at the University of Reading about the women-led protests in Iran, sparked in response to the arrest of Mahsa Amini by the morality police and her subsequent death.

Transcript available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk

In this episode, we speak to Justice Steven Majiedt of the Constitutional Court of South Africa on the unique history of South African constitutionalism, whether the constitution can bring about transformation and the future of socio-economic rights protection in light of COVID and the cost-of-living crisis.

In this episode we spoke to Allison Corkery and María Emilia Mamberti at the Centre for Economic and Social Rights about what human rights bring to the current cost of living crisis.

Vox pops on key human rights issues with human rights experts. Transcript available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website (https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/).

In this episode we speak to Professor Julie Suk about applying an equality lens to the right to abortion in light of the recent US Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v Jackson. What do equality arguments bring? Is the US Constitution's understanding of equality helpful in grounding a right to an abortion? And if not, are there alternate constitutional pathways available to the Court?

Transcript available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk

In advance of a nationwide referendum on the new draft Chilean Constitution, scheduled for the 4th of September, Gautam Bhatia interviews Professor Roberto Gargarella about the writing of this Constitution, its place in the history of Latin American constitutionalism, and the reasons why the draft Constitution deserves to be supported.

Transcript available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website: ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk

Vox pops on key human rights issues with human rights experts. Transcript available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website (https://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/). 

We ask human rights experts who has ultimate responsibility for protecting the most vulnerable in times of crisis.

This is the final episode of a four-part series. The series takes a deep dive into whether equality law is cut out to protect the most vulnerable in times of crisis, and if not, then why not and what can we do about it?

This podcast series is part of the Exponential Inequalities project, led by Shreya Atrey as the Principal Investigator of the British Academy Leverhulme Small Research Grant on Equality Law in Times of Crisis.

Transcript and show notes available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website at ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk.

Producer, Presenter, Sound Editor: Christy Callaway-Gale
Executive Producers: Shreya Atrey, Meghan Campbell, Sandra Fredman
Assistant Producers: Mónica Arango Olaya, Gauri Pillai, Natasha Holcroft-Emmess
Transcript and show notes: Sarah Dobbie
Music: Rosemary Allmann

Human rights experts reveal how we could reform equality law to make sure it protects the most vulnerable in times of crisis.

This is Episode Three of a four-part series. The series takes a deep dive into whether equality law is cut out to protect the most vulnerable in times of crisis, and if not, then why not and what can we do about it?

This podcast series is part of the Exponential Inequalities project, led by Shreya Atrey as the Principal Investigator of the British Academy Leverhulme Small Research Grant on Equality Law in Times of Crisis. 

Transcript and show notes available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website at ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk. 

Producer, Presenter, Sound Editor: Christy Callaway-Gale
Executive Producers: Shreya Atrey, Meghan Campbell, Sandra Fredman
Assistant Producers: Mónica Arango Olaya, Gauri Pillai, Natasha Holcroft-Emmess
Transcript and show notes: Sarah Dobbie
Music: Rosemary Allmann

Human rights experts help us determine whether equality law is set up to protect the most vulnerable in times of crisis.

This is Episode Two of a four-part series. The series takes a deep dive into whether equality law is cut out to protect the most vulnerable in times of crisis, and if not, then why not and what can we do about it?

This podcast series is part of the Exponential Inequalities project, led by Shreya Atrey as the Principal Investigator of the British Academy Leverhulme Small Research Grant on Equality Law in Times of Crisis.

Transcript and show notes available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website at ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk.

Producer, Presenter, Sound Editor: Christy Callaway-Gale
Executive Producers: Shreya Atrey, Meghan Campbell, Sandra Fredman
Assistant Producers: Mónica Arango Olaya, Gauri Pillai, Natasha Holcroft-Emmess
Transcript and show notes: Sarah Dobbie
Music: Rosemary Allmann

Human rights experts tell stories of inequalities from around the world, revealing how these inequalities have been exacerbated during crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is Episode One of a four-part series. The series takes a deep dive into whether equality law is cut out to protect the most vulnerable in times of crisis, and if not, then why not and what can we do about it?

This podcast series is part of the Exponential Inequalities project, led by Shreya Atrey as the Principal Investigator of the British Academy Leverhulme Small Research Grant on Equality Law in Times of Crisis.

Transcript and show notes available on the Oxford Human Rights Hub website at ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk.

Producer, Presenter, Sound Editor: Christy Callaway-Gale
Executive Producers: Shreya Atrey, Meghan Campbell, Sandra Fredman
Assistant Producers: Mónica Arango Olaya, Gauri Pillai, Natasha Holcroft-Emmess
Transcript and show notes: Sarah Dobbie
Music: Rosemary Allmann

In this episode, Gauri Pillai, Managing Editor of the Oxford Human Rights Hub, speaks to Professor Adrienne Stone, Director of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies at Melbourne Law School and Professor Eric Heinze, Professor of Law and Humanities, Queen Mary University of London on the human rights implications of the alleged free speech crisis in university campuses.

In this episode, Seun Matiluko, a journalist and a current BCL student at Oxford Law Faculty, speaks with Dr Shreya Atrey, an Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law at Oxford's Department for Continuing Education and Faculty of Law, about a recent report from the UK Government's newly formed Commission for Race and Ethnic Disparities.

Hosted and recorded by: Seun Matiluko

Edited by: Christy Callaway-Gale 

Produced by: Gauri Pillai

Executive producer: Kira Allmann

Show notes by: Sarah Dobbie

Music by: Rosemary Allmann

Additional thanks to: Sandra Fredman and Megan Campbell

Full transcript available at: http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/media/

This episode is released under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license. This allows you to republish the episode, but you must credit RightsUp and The Oxford Human Rights Hub.

In this episode, we speak with Dr Isabel Cristina Jaramillo from Los Andes University in Colombia about “Gender in Transition: Studies about the Role of the Law in the Distribution of Resources for Implementing the Transition in Colombia after the Peace Agreement." We explore what gender has meant during Colombia's transition to peace and reconciliation and what the peace agreement has meant to the construction of Colombian feminisms.

Hosted and recorded by: Mónica Arango Olaya
Edited by: Christy Callaway-Gale
Co-produced by: Mónica Arango Olaya
Executive producer: Kira Allmann
Show notes by: Sarah Dobbie
Music by: Rosemary Allmann
Additional thanks to: Sandra Fredman, Megan Campbell, Gauri Pillai, and Natasha Holcroft-Emmess

This episode is part of a four-part series in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In this episode, guest host Simphiwe Laura Stewart talks with Rekgotsofetse Chikane about the "Rhodes Must Fall" movement. They discuss the intersections and tensions of #MustFall with black consciousness, black feminism, and pan-Africanism, and the diverse histories of oppression and resistance across time and borders. Rekgotsofetse Chikane is the author of “Breaking a Rainbow, Building a Nation: The Politics Behind #MustFall”. He was one of the leading figures of the Rhodes Must Fall movement in South Africa.

Hosted and recorded by: Simphiwe Laura Stewart
Edited by: Christy Callaway-Gale & Kira Allmann
Co-produced by: Natasha Holcroft-Emmess and Sarah Dobbie
Executive producer: Kira Allmann
Show notes by: Sarah Dobbie
Music by: Rosemary Allmann
Additional thanks to: Sandra Fredman, Meghan Campbell, Mónica Arango Olaya, and Gauri Pillai

This episode is part of a four-part series in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In this episode, we talk to Shea Streeter about the seemingly intractable issue of police brutality and race in the United States and how race and gender shape the ways that people experience, perceive, and respond to incidents of violence. 

The Oxford Human Rights Hub is an anti-racist organisation, and we are committed to continuously working to be better allies to communities protesting against deeply entrenched systems of racial domination and oppression. In this spirit, this podcast series aims to amplify the voices of Black and Brown scholars, activists and practitioners. We also want to acknowledge a long legacy of work that has collectively, across time and disciplines, built and bolstered the foundations of this present movement. Now is a time to listen, learn, support and amplify.

Hosted and recorded by: Richard Martin

Edited by: Christy Callaway-Gale

Co-produced by: Richard Martin, Mónica Arango Olaya, and Christy Callaway-Gale

Executive producer: Kira Allmann

Show notes by: Sarah Dobbie

Music by: Rosemary Allmann

Thanks to: Natasha Holcroft-Emmess and Gauri Pillai

This episode is part of a four-part series in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In this episode, we talk to Savala Trepczynski about racial hierarchy and the role of whiteness in the Black Lives Matter movement.

The Oxford Human Rights Hub is an anti-racist organisation, and we are committed to continuously working to be better allies to communities protesting against deeply entrenched systems of racial domination and oppression. In this spirit, this podcast series aims to amplify the voices of Black and Brown scholars, activists and practitioners. We also want to acknowledge a long legacy of work that has collectively, across time and disciplines, built and bolstered the foundations of this present movement. Now is a time to listen, learn, support and amplify.

Here, we explore the question: what role does racial hierarchy play in perpetuating inequalities?

Hosted and recorded by: Ndjodi Ndeunyema
Edited by: Christy Callaway-Gale
Co-produced by: Natasha Holcroft-Emmess and Christy Callaway-Gale
Executive producer: Kira Allmann
Show notes by: Sarah Dobbie
Music by: Rosemary Allmann
Thanks to: Mónica Arango Olaya and Gauri Pillai

This episode is part of a four-part series in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. In this episode, we speak with Dr Foluke Adebisi, a Senior Lecturer in Law at Bristol University in the United Kingdom, about decolonizing education. 

The Oxford Human Rights Hub is an anti-racist organisation, and we are committed to continuously working to be better allies to communities protesting against deeply entrenched systems of racial domination and oppression. In this spirit, this podcast series aims to amplify the voices of Black and Brown scholars, activists and practitioners. We also want to acknowledge a long legacy of work that has collectively, across time and disciplines, built and bolstered the foundations of this present movement. Now is a time to listen, learn, support and amplify. 

This episode focuses on decolonising education. It looks particularly at the intersection between human rights and the decolonial approach to education. Dr Adebisi is an expert in an intersection of areas looking at law, race, equality, legal education, and decolonising education. She's also the founder of Forever Africa Conference and Events (FACE), a hub for Pan-Africanist thought and community in the UK. 

A full transcript of this episode is available at: http://ohrh.law.ox.ac.uk/media/

Hosted and recorded by: Nomfundo Ramalekana

Edited by: Christy Callaway-Gale

Co-produced by: Gauri Pillai and Christy Callaway-Gale

Executive producer: Kira Allmann

Show notes by: Sarah Dobbie

Music by: Rosemary Allmann

Thanks to: Mónica Arango Olaya and Natasha Holcroft-Emmess

Constitutions are the legal bedrock of many countries, but they're also political, and are produced within a specific socio-historical context, much like any text. As much as Constitutions are there to protect citizens, they can also exclude certain groups of people. And when a Constitution doesn't work for all, how do we best address this? To what extent can we reinterpret a Constitution so it's more inclusive? And when do we need to start again, from scratch? In this episode, Gautam Bhatia and Joel Modiri discuss these questions in the context of India and South Africa.

Interview with: Gautam Bhatia and Dr Joel Modiri
Recorded by: Nomfundo Ramalekana
Produced and edited by: Christy Callaway-Gale
Executive producer: Kira Allmann
Shownotes: Sarah Dobbie
Music: Rosemary Allmann

Covid-19 lockdowns worldwide have forced huge portions of our lives online, from education to work, with important human rights ramifications. But there's an argument to be made that the Covid-19 lockdown has been good for the environment. there have been reports of lower levels of littering and urban pollution. As humans withdrew from public spaces, some native wildlife has reemerged. But our newly intensified online routines, from video conferencing to binge-watching Netflix, might have more of a negative environmental impact than we realise. The Internet and the systems that support it are reportedly responsible for 3.7% of global greenhouse gas emissions, roughly the same as the airline industry. And it's estimated that the typical professional creates 135 kilogrammes of CO2 just sending emails — which is equivalent to driving 200 miles in a family car. We don't often think about the effect of the Internet on the natural environment, and the related implications for human rights. In this episode, we talk to Internet governance consultant Michael Oghia about why we need to build an environmentally sustainable Internet for the future.

Interview with: Michael Oghia (Global Forum for Media Development)

Host: Kira Allmann

Producer/Editor: Kira Allmann

Executive Producer: Kira Allmann

Music: Rosemary Allmann

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought questions around global healthcare financing and equitable access to treatments to the fore. But this is not the first time a spotlight has been thrown on the thorny issue of fair resource allocation in efforts to tackle global health issues. In her book, “The Uncounted: Politics of Data in Global Health” (Cambridge University Press), Dr Sara Davis considers how human rights issues can affect the data which underlie global healthcare funding. She looks closely at the indicators which drive resource allocation, the metrics used to measure success in tackling health issues, and the people whose experiences healthcare data often fails to capture. Ultimately, in a world of finite resources, this data plays an important role in determining who is more likely to live or die.

Interview with: Sara Davis (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva)

Host: Natasha Holcroft-Emmess

Producer/Editor: Christy Callaway-Gale

Executive Producer: Kira Allmann

Music: Rosemary Allmann

In 2016, a peace agreement was negotiated between the Colombian  Government and one guerrilla movement known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC. But the peace deal was rejected by a narrow margin in a referendum in 2016. A revised peace deal was eventually ratified by the Congress of Colombia. The peace agreement provides for the Special Jurisdiction for Peace, a tribunal created in 2018 to implement the transitional justice component of the peace agreement. In this episode, we talk with Judge Lemaitre, who currently the Investigating Judge for the jurisdiction's first macro case, about the future of restorative justice in Colombia.

Interview with: Julieta Lemaitre (Special Jurisdiction for Peace, Colombia)

Host: Natasha Holcroft-Emmess

Producer: Natasha Holcroft-Emmess

Executive Producer: Kira Allmann

Music: Rosemary Allmann

The spread of Covid-19 has affected many areas of our lives with major implications for our rights and freedoms. The instigation of a UK-wide lockdown has had an especially pronounced effect on our rights, and the burden of this disruption will fall most heavily on those whose livelihoods, health, and security were already fragile. Furloughed employees, those who are self-employed, and those who must now seek social security benefits face an unprecedented level of uncertainty. Today we discuss the impact of coronavirus on worker's rights in the UK.

Interview with: Michael Ford, QC (University of Bristol & Old Square Chambers)
Hosted by: Natasha Holcroft-Emmess
Produced and edited by: Christy Callaway-Gale
Executive producer: Kira Allmann
Shownotes: Sarah Dobbie
Music: Rosemary Allmann

This is a special episode of RightsUp, which takes Sandy Fredman’s new book, Comparative Human Rights Law, as a starting point for global conversation around the role of law, lawyers, courts, and judges in forwarding human rights in different contexts. Each episode will delve into the overarching themes of the book and highlight some specific examples from different jurisdictions -- on issues such as capital punishment, abortion, the right to housing, health, and education, and the right to freedom of speech and religion.

In this discussion, Sandy speaks with Colm O'Cinneide, a professor of human rights law at UCL, who also served on the member of the European Committee on Social Rights of the Council of Europe. They discuss the intersections between socio-economic rights and civil/political rights in the context of Europe.

Guests: Sandra Fredman and Colm O'Cinneide
Produced by: Kira Allmann
Music by: Rosemary Allmann

This is a special episode of RightsUp, which takes Sandy Fredman’s new book, Comparative Human Rights Law, as a starting point for global conversation around the role of law, lawyers, courts, and judges in forwarding human rights in different contexts. Each episode will delve into the overarching themes of the book and highlight some specific examples from different jurisdictions -- on issues such as capital punishment, abortion, the right to housing, health, and education, and the right to freedom of speech and religion.

In this discussion, Sandy speaks with Justice S. Muralidhar, a judge on the High Court of Delhi, who has delivered judgments in some of the most important housing rights cases in India. They discuss a right to housing and the value of comparing how different legal systems deal with this issue.

Guests: Sandra Fredman and Justice S. Muralidhar
Produced by: Kira Allmann
Music by: Rosemary Allmann

This is a special episode of RightsUp, which takes Sandy Fredman’s new book, Comparative Human Rights Law, as a starting point for global conversation around the role of law, lawyers, courts, and judges in forwarding human rights in different contexts. Each episode will delve into the overarching themes of the book and highlight some specific examples from different jurisdictions -- on issues such as capital punishment, abortion, the right to housing, health, and education, and the right to freedom of speech and religion.

In this discussion, Sandy speaks with Judge Edwin Cameron, who recently retired from the Constitutional Court of South Africa after serving for more than two decades as a judge in South African courts.

Guests: Sandra Fredman and Edwin Cameron
Produced by: Kira Allmann
Music by: Rosemary Allmann

The United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015. They aim to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all people. The goals provide policy objectives for countries to aspire to meet over a number of years. In this final episode of our SDG podcast series, we talk about how the Sustainable Development Goals and human rights can work together to achieve transformative change in the realm of gender equality. In order for the SDGs to be truly transformative for women, attention needs to be paid simultaneously to four dimensions of equality: first, redressing disadvantage; second, addressing stereotyping, stigma, prejudice and violence; third, facilitating voice and participation; and fourth, achieving systemic or institutional change. Professor Sandra Fredman (University of Oxford) talks about applying these dimensions of equality in her recent report for the British Academy on human rights, the SDGs, and gender equality.

**This episode is part of a special series on “Working Together: Human Rights and the Sustainable Development Goals,” a British Academy project led by Professor Sandy Fredman, Fellow of the British Academy and Director of the Oxford Human Rights Hub. As part of this project, the Academy convened a roundtable in January 2018 with academic experts, policymakers and practitioners from the UK and overseas to discuss the ways in which human rights and developmental goals can work together to achieve the SDG agenda and particularly gender equality and women’s empowerment.**

Interview with: Sandra Fredman (University of Oxford)
Produced by: Kira Allmann (University of Oxford)
Music by: Rosemary Allmann