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The small west African country of the Gambia has lodged a suit at the International Court of Justice against Myanmar for committing a genocide against the Rohingya people.
The Rohingya are an ethnic and religious minority in Myanmar, who have long faced discrimination and persecution. But it was not until the summer and fall of 2017 that this persecution became a mass atrocity event, and arguably a genocide. Some 700,000 Rohingya fled violence in this time, and now more than a million live as refugees in neighboring Bangladesh.
Justice for the Rohingya victims of genocide has so far been elusive. But this action at the International Court of Justice, which is a UN body based in the Hague, could be a significant turning point.
On the line with me to discuss the significance of this lawsuit is Param-Preet Singh. She is an associate director of Human Rights Watch in the International Justice Program. And in our conversation she explains what exactly this law suit alleges, why Gambia is the country bringing the suit, and how this action advance the cause of justice for victims of crimes against humanity and change how.
We kick off with a brief discussion of the International Court of Justice and how the judicial process at the ICJ works.
For the past several weeks, Washington Post reporter Mustafa Salim has had a front row view to massive protests that have erupted in Baghdad and other cities in Iraq. As he explains in this Global Dispatches podcast episode, these protests are neither centrally organized, nor do they have an explicit set of demands. Yet, they may prove to be powerful enough to bring down the Iraqi government of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi.
The protests began in early October, mostly by young men from poorer Shi'ite cities and towns angered by corruption and their own economic distress. But now, the protests have since expanded to include women and men from all walks of life.
In our conversation, Mustafa Salim describes the scene on the ground in Baghdad where I reached him a few days ago. We discuss how these protests originated, where they may be heading, why Iran is a target of the protesters, and how humble drivers of three wheel taxis that cater to the urban poor, known as Tuk Tuks, became symbolic heroes of this protest movement.
If you have 20 minutes and want both a deeper understanding of what is driving the Iraq protests and what the mood is on the ground in Baghdad, have a listen.
In 1976 Peter Piot was a 27-year-old microbiologist working in Belgium when he travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo, then called Zaire, to investigate a particularly deadly disease outbreak. He took samples back to his lab and was among the team that first discovered the ebola virus.
Today, he is one of the world's leading experts on epidemics and infectious diseases. This includes HIV/AIDS. In 1995, he was the founding director of the United Nations Program on AIDS, called UNAIDS, and served in that role until 2008. He is now the director of one of the world's most prestigious health research institutes, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
And on the podcast today, we talk about epidemics and what can be done to avert and contain them. This includes the ongoing ebola epidemic in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo,which is now the second worst ebola outbreak in history. And we also discuss what the world has gotten right -- and wrong about both fighting HIV and AIDS and how we define ending the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
We kick off though discussing the kind of nightmare scenarios that most concern Peter Piot. This includes what he calls "the big one."
One of the driving forces of international relations over the last several years has been a rivalry between Arab states. This is sometimes called the "Gulf Crisis" and put simply, it refers to tensions and hostilities between Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates on the one hand; and Qatar on the other.
The roots of this rivalry run deep, but around the time of the Arab Spring these tensions came very much to the surface. The United States has historically had a profound interest in mitigating hostilities between Gulf Arab states, principally because each of these countries are key US allies. The US, for example, has a major Navy base in Bahrain and a major Air Force base in Qatar. But the Trump administration has been less adept at keeping a lid on the hostilities between these countries. Now these tensions are not only affecting relations between Arab gulf states, but are also leaving a mark in other regions.
As my guest today, Elizabeth Dickinson explains, the Gulf Crisis has been exported. The true fallout from this feud has not been felt on the Arabian Peninsula, she argues, but on battlefields across the greater Middle East and in the fragile politics of countries in the Horn of Africa, specifically Sudan and Somalia. Elizabeth Dickinson is a senior analyst with the International Crisis Group and in our conversation she explains both the roots of this rivalry in the gulf and how this crisis in the gulf is stoking instability across several regions of the world.
Victor Madrigal-Borloz is a Costa Rican jurist who serves as the United Nations Independent Expert on Protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. In other words, he is the UN's top watchdog for LGBTI rights worldwide
The fact that this position even exists in the UN system was, at the time, controversial. In UN lingo, his position is known as the IE SOGI, or Independent Expert on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. It was created in 2016 by votes in the Human Rights Council and General Assembly, the latter of which includes every UN member state. Some of these states are actively hostile to LGBTI rights, and accordingly sought to block establishing this role. They were unsuccessful, and Victor Madrigal-Borloz has now been on his job for two years.
When I spoke with Victor Madrigal-Borloz he had just briefed the General Assembly on his latest report on LGBTI rights globally so we kick off discussing that report and have a broader conversation about how he goes about his work, fulfilling his UN mandate to protect LGBTI individuals around the world.
Before we start, some quick background on one aspect of the UN human rights protection system of which Victor Madrigal-Borloz is a member. The IE SOGI is one of dozens independent experts and special rapporteurs that report to the Human Rights Council about both thematic and country specific human rights issues. So, for example there is are special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Iran and North Korea; and there are special rapporteur covering issues like the rights of people with disabilities; or focusing on protection of the freedom of expression worldwide. There are over 50 of these positions, and taken together they are called "special procedures."
What began last week as a protest against a fare hike in for the Santiago, Chile metro system has morphed into a broad social movement against increasing economic inequality in the country. And it has been violent. So far, at least 18 people have been killed.
From an international perspective, these protests are coming at an inopportune time. Santiago is hosting the next major global climate change conference, COP25, in early December. And prior to that, in mid November, the city is playing host for the APEC summit on Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
Needless to say, the government of Sebastian Pinera is coming under increased pressure to address the concerns of the protesters. But as my guest today explains, so far the actions taken by his government have really only exacerbated this ongoing crisis.
Estafania Labrin Cortes is a Chilean reporter for the newspaper The Clinic. When I caught up with her from Santiago on Wednesday October 23, protests were still ongoing.
We kick off this conversation discussing the series of events that lead to the spontaneous eruption of nationwide protests. We then have a longer conversation about what is driving increasing inequality in Chile -- indeed it has one of the highest degrees of wealth inequality among the world's major democracies. As Estafia Labrin Cortes explains, this is partly due to legacies from the Pinochet dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.
If you have 25 minutes and want to learn what caused these protests, how they spread so quickly and learn some of the broader international implications of this crisis in Chile, have a listen
https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatchesOn October 4th, the General Manager of the Houston Rockets basketball team shared a message on Twitter. It was which was an image with the words: "Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong."
The post was almost immediately deleted, but not before it caught the attention of Chinese authorities who began threatening huge sanctions on the Houston Rockets and on the NBA. The NBA quickly went into damage control mode with various officials profusely apologizing for this one tweet; and even the world's biggest NBA star, LeBron James suggested Morey was uniformed and uneducated about the situation in Hong Kong.
What has unfolded between China and the NBA is to my mind one of the biggest stories of the last several years because it is such a blatant demonstration of the power that both the Chinese communist party and middle class consumers in China have over large western companies -- and that they are willing to use that power to punish and deter free speech outside of China.
On the line with me to talk discuss what this incident with the NBA says about China's global reach, the future of freedom of expression, and the future of capitalism is Derek Thompson. He is a staff Writer at the Atlantic and host of the CRAZY/GENIUS podcast.
The "Girl Effect" is a concept that has been around international development for the better part of a decade. It refers to the community and societal benefits that can accrue when investments are made in the education and health of girls. The concept has been backed up by research over the years and is now a driving force guiding many health and development projects.
"The Girl Effect" is also the name of a non profit dedicated to catalyzing its namesake, and on the podcast today is the organization's CEO Jessica Posner.
In our conversation, Jessica Posner kicks off by explaining the concept of the girl effect, and then we have a longer conversation about the work of the organization she leads. This includes projects aimed at increasing the demand for reproductive health services and education among young women and girls in the developing world.
Dionne Searcey travelled to the Central African Republic to report on a story that has previously lead to the murder of other foreign journalists.
In July 2018 three Russian journalists were killed in the Central African Republic while investigating Russia's growing presence in the country. Their murder last year, however, has only increased international attention on Russia's shadowy aims in the Central African Republic.
Dionne Searcey is a reporter for the New York Times and her story, published in late September, exposed evidence of Russian involvement in illicit diamond mining. More broadly, though, her story explains and identifies the contours of Russia's growing political interests in the Central African Republic.
And at the center of this story is a man named Yevgeny Prighozin. He is a Russian oligarch and close ally of Vladimir Putin, and has been indicted in the United States for his role in interfering in the 2016 Presidential election. He is also the owner of a mining company that has extracted millions of dollars worth of diamonds from the Central African Republic. This was done through legal mining operations -- but also likely through illegal mines operated by armed rebel groups.
We kick off discussing Yevgeny Prighozin before having a broader discussion of Russian involvement in the Central African Republic and what this signals about Russian-African relations more broadly.
I've posted the article on Global Dispatches Podcast.com and encourage you to read it. It also includes some stunning images from photographer Ashley Gilbertson
Kurdish forces have a long history of siding with the United States. And the United States has a long history of eventually selling them out.
The latest iteration of this dynamic unfolded when Donald Trump ordered a small US military contingent to withdraw from Kurdish controlled parts of Northeastern Syria in advance of a likely Turkish military operation. The move came after phone call between Trump and Turkish President Recep Teyyep Erdogan in which Trump apparently acquiesced to a Turkish military operation against Kurdish fighters from the region.
The situation is rapidly evolving -- so what I opted to do with this episode is speak with an expert on Kurdish politics and diplomacy, Morgan Kaplan, who provides some background and context so you can understand events as they unfold. Morgan Kaplan is the executive editor of the academic journal International Security at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School We kick off discussing the YPG -- these are the Kurdish forces who were the backbone of the fight against ISIS in Syria, and who control territory near the Turkish border. The US had backed them, while Turkey long accused them of being terrorists. We then discuss some of the broader geopolitics of this situation, including Turkish interests in the region; the role of Moscow and Damascus; and of course the Unites States fraught history with the Kurds. https://www.patreon.com/GlobalDispatches
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