Strategy and Leadership for Human Rights Organizations

The Evolution of the Global Human Rights Movement: A Three-Decade Perspective
Carr Center Human Rights for Policy. 2/8/2023. “The Evolution of the Global Human Rights Movement: A Three-Decade Perspective”. Publisher's VersionAbstract

Kenneth Roth gave a lecture at the JFK Jr. Forum, discussing the evolution of human rights work, the strategic challenges and opportunities facing Human Rights Watch over the decades, and the future of human rights. 

Roth's talk, co-sponsored by the Carr Center and the Institute of Politics, additionally featured an introduction by Mathias Risse (Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights, Global Affairs and Philosophy and Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy), additional comments from Kathryn Sikkink (Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy) and was moderated by Sushma Raman, the former Executive Director of the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. This transcript has been edited for length and clarity. A complete recording of the event is also available online.

Read the transcript of his lecture here.

Carr Center 2021-2022 Annual Report
Carr Center Human Rights for Policy. 9/9/2022. Carr Center 2021-2022 Annual Report. Harvard Kennedy School. Publisher's VersionAbstract

The world is rapidly changing, and with it, the human rights landscape continues to shift. As these changes continue, so does the work of the Carr Center to bring human rights front-and-center into our everyday lives. Our 2021-2022 annual report highlights the Carr Center’s growing reach over the past year, thanks to the continued expansion of our programs and the dedication of our faculty, fellows, and students to human rights policy and research.

 

Our new research, publications, books, podcast episodes, and webinars over the course of the year—created in tandem with our faculty and fellows—have reached over 150 countries around the world, bringing the Carr Center’s mission into the homes, universities, and workplaces of thousands. To learn more about what the Carr Center accomplished during the 2021-2022 academic year, click the link below.

Read the report.

2021 Nov 19

U.S. Refugee Policy Post-Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Registration Closed 3:00pm to 4:00pm

Location: 

Virtual Event (Registration Required)

Panelists: 

  • Ambassador Mark Storella | Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy, Boston University Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies; Former U.S. Ambassador to Zambia 
  • Jacqueline Bhabha | Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights, HSPH; Jeremiah Smith Jr. Lecturer in Law, HLS
  • Mathias Risse | Faculty Director, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy; Berthold Beitz Professor in Human Rights, Global Affairs and...
Read more about U.S. Refugee Policy Post-Withdrawal from Afghanistan

Registration: 

2021 Nov 16

The Legacy of Rwanda: Explaining How Evil Triumphs

Registration Closed 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Virtual Event (Registration Required)

During the genocide in Rwanda in 1994 up to 1,1 million people are estimated to have been killed while the international community stood by. Making sense of those events and drawing lessons from them continues to be challenging. This webinar is organized around Charles Petrie’s new book The Triumph of Evil: Genocide in Rwanda and the Fight for Justice. Charles Petrie is a former UN official who had reached the rank of Assistant Secretary-General before resigning in 2010. He was transferred to Rwanda in April 1994, where he supported General Romeo Dallaire during the genocide....

Read more about The Legacy of Rwanda: Explaining How Evil Triumphs

Registration: 

2021 Oct 07

Redeeming Justice

Registration Closed 4:00pm to 5:00pm

Location: 

Virtual Event (Registration Required)

Redeeming Justice draws from the lived experience of the project's co-authors who were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP) over three decades ago and human rights law to argue for a right to redemption. The central argument is that all human beings are capable of change and that this should be reflected in the law, meaning that impermeable sentences like LWOP, which allow for no opportunity to revisit indefinite incarceration, amount to cruel and unusual punishment. The article will be published in the Northwestern Law Review in October. Please find a link...

Read more about Redeeming Justice

Registration: 

2021 Sep 09

Afghanistan: The Path Forward

Registration Closed 11:00am to 12:00pm

Location: 

Virtual Event (Registration Required)

The rapid withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan in August and the ensuing Taliban takeover has left the nation and its people facing immediate uncertainties and peril. What is the path forward for Afghanistan? Yalda Hakim, Broadcast Journalist at BBC World News; Wazhma Sadat, Co-Founder of Firoz Academy; and Rory Stewart, Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, will join us for a panel discussion on the current situation in Afghanistan and will share their thoughts on the nation’s future. This event is part of the Carr Center’s Human Rights in Hard...

Read more about Afghanistan: The Path Forward

Registration: 

Artificial Intelligence and the Past, Present, and Future of Democracy
Mathias Risse. 7/28/2021. “Artificial Intelligence and the Past, Present, and Future of Democracy.” Carr Center Discussion Paper Series. See full text.Abstract

Located at the intersection of political philosophy, philosophy of technology and political history, this essay reflects on medium and long-term prospects and challenges for democracy that arise from AI, emphasizing how critical a stage this is. Modern democracies involve structures for collective choice that periodically empower relatively few people to steer the social direction for everybody. As in all forms of governance, technology shapes how this unfolds. Specialized AI changes what philosophers of technology would call the materiality of democracy, not just in the sense that independent actors deploy different tools. AI changes how collective decision making unfolds and what its human participants are like (how they see themselves in relation to their environment, what relationships they have and how those are designed, and generally what form of human life can get realized). AI and democracy are not “natural allies:” it takes active design choices and much political will for AI so serve democratic purposes.

Read the full paper

Margaret Huang

Fighting the Hate

May 28, 2021

President and CEO of the Southern Poverty Law Center, Margaret Huang, joins host Sushma Raman to discuss the Center's tremendous growth, along with its challenges in the road ahead.

... Read more about Fighting the Hate

2021 Apr 20

Innovating Our Approach to Human Rights in North Korea

Registration Closed 6:00pm to 7:30pm

Location: 

Virtual Event (Registration Required)

Join the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, for a conversation on Innovating Our Approach to Human Rights in North Korea: Investing in the Freedom & Empowerment of the North Korean People.

Due to global awareness campaigns around the North Korean regime’s crimes against humanity against its people, the world now knows of just how much North Korean people suffer at the hands of their totalitarian regime. Given that there is a baseline of public knowledge regarding the deplorable human rights...

Read more about Innovating Our Approach to Human Rights in North Korea

Registration: 

Pages