Framing Human Rights

Listen to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967. Francesca speaks about her mandate in the context of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the increasing threat to the international legal order. She also shares her experiences of repression and human rights violations she witnessed during her visit to Germany in February 2025.In conversation with Francesca Albanese are Fiona Thorp, Legal Fellow in the Palestine Team at ECCHR, and Chantal Meloni, Senior Legal Advisor in the International Crimes and Accountability program. ECCHR has worked on cases relating to crimes committed by Israeli forces against Palestinian civilians for over a decade. Recently, ECCHR has filed several requests for provisional measures against German exports of weapons of war and other military equipment to Israel, which are used in attacks on the Palestinian population in Gaza. We have also compiled a detailed Q&A on the topic of genocide in Gaza and on the arrest warrants against Israeli Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former-Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.Let's stay in touch! You want to stay up to date on ECCHR's cases, events and publications? Subscribe to our newsletter.Or support our work with your donation! image © Laura Fiorio

Die neue Folge „Staatsräson gegen Grundrechte“ beschäftigt sich mit der deutschen Staatsräson im Kontext der anhaltenden Kriegsverbrechen Israels in Gaza. Welche politischen, rechtlichen sowie gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen hat sie im Inneren? Und welche solidarischen Allianzen lassen sich gegen die repressiven Maßnahmen schließen?  Im Gespräch mit Amira Tamim (ECCHR Alumna) sind Simin Jawabreh, Aktivistin und Politikwissenschaftlerin und Paula Zimmermann, Fachreferentin für Meinungs- und Versammlungsfreiheit bei Amnesty International.  Das ECCHR hat mehrere Eilanträge gegen deutsche Kriegswaffen- und Rüstungsexporte nach Israel gestellt. Unsere Serie von Klagen und Eilanträgen begann am 11. April 2024 vor dem Verwaltungsgericht Berlin. Erfahrt ⁠hier ⁠mehr über den Fall. In unserem ⁠Q&A⁠ findet ihr Fragen und Antworten zum Thema Völkerrecht und den aktuellen Krieg in Gaza. Auch zum rechtlichen Hintergrund des Genozids sowie aktuellen Entwicklung haben wir Fragen und Antworten aufbereitet. Diese findet ihr ⁠hier. Amnesty International veröffentlichte gerade einen Bericht, in dem sie zu dem Schluss kommen, dass Israel in Gaza einen Genozid begeht. Den Bericht findet ihr in englischer Sprache ⁠hier⁠. ⁠⁠⁠ Zur systematischen Einschränkung und Unterdrückung der Versammlungsfreiheit in Europa gab Amnesty ⁠diesen Bericht⁠ in englischer Sprache heraus. Simin Jawabreh hat ⁠diesen Artikel⁠ zum kürzlich wieder eingeführten Ordnungsrecht und den damit verbunden Repressionen an deutschen Hochschulen verfasst.

In this episode, Ethiopian-American author Maaza Mengiste and Italian artist and photographer Laura Fiorio sit down with ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck. The conversation centers on the colonial history of Italy in Ethiopia. Mengiste talks about the often overlooked role of women in Ethiopia's fight against Italian occupation during World War II, and Italian artist Fiorio talks about her work “My fascist Grandpa.” Both bring their perspectives to contextualize photography and its manifold meaning and ability to hold and tell truths.   © Vittoria Trovato / Laura Fiorio © Nina Subin / Maaza Mengiste

#1 Human rights in times of crises: The concrete utopia of human rights Alejandra Ancheita (lawyer, founder of ProDESC, Mexico), Joshua Castellino (executive director, Minority Rights Group International), and Wolfgang Kaleck (ECCHR General Secretary) kick off our talk series Human rights in times of crises. On the basis of Kaleck's latest book The concrete utopia of human rights: A look back into the future (in German, S. Fischer publishers), our guests discuss how, when faced with a climate crisis, a pandemic, deeply unequal economic models, and authoritarianism, human rights activists can no longer go on with business-as-usual. These unprecedented global transitions are a chance to rethink new strategies and ways forward, and reclaim human rights and their potential for change. Human rights in times of crises is ECCHR's talk series on resistance and concrete utopias. With our conversations, we want to create the necessary platform for actors from all over the world to discuss and advance global human rights struggles. Human rights are a concrete utopia worth defending. But how to defend them needs to be constantly reinvented. As we find ourselves in a time of profound global transitions, human rights actors need to refer to prevailing inequalities and the underpinning social questions. ECCHR initiated an event series that is now available as a podcast to rethink the struggle for and around human rights. For more information, go to: ecchr.eu/human-rights-in-times-of-crises

#2 Human rights in times of crises: Corporate power, the role of law and human rights In this episode, Katharina Pistor (author, Columbia Law School) speaks with Guillermo Torres (lawyer, ProDESC), Johan Horst (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) and Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR program director Business and Human Rights) about how corporate power and law are intertwined. Law not only organizes and secures economic profits, it is a crucial factor in creating wealth. Our guests explore how economic and financial law are important factors in creating corporate power, and our legal and political options to restrict this dynamic of growing corporate wealth and power. Can human rights, especially economic and social rights, play a role in insuring our societies become more equitable? Human rights in times of crises is ECCHR's talk series on resistance and concrete utopias. With our conversations, we want to create the necessary platform for actors from all over the world to discuss and advance global human rights struggles. Human rights are a concrete utopia worth defending. But how to defend them needs to be constantly reinvented. As we find ourselves in a time of profound global transitions, human rights actors need to refer to prevailing inequalities and the underpinning social questions. ECCHR initiated an event series that is now available as a podcast to rethink the struggle for and around human rights. For more information, go to ecchr.eu/human-rights-in-times-of-crises

#7 (Post)colonial injustice: Genocide in Namibia and Black Lives Matter Colonialism continues to shape our current social, economic, and political world order to a substantial degree. In a discussion with prominent human rights advocates at this last event of our series, we will bridge different aspects of a larger struggle, encompassing reparations claims for German colonial crimes in Namibia, the legacy of slavery, unfinished decolonization, as well as the vibrant Black Lives Matter movement in the United States. How can human rights law be used to resist and counteract (post)colonial injustices? How are these movements broadening and intensifying their connections to human rights work and networks? In this episode, Sima Luipert (Deputy Chairperson of the Nama Traditional Leaders of Namibia), Vince Warren (Executive Director of the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights), and Meena Jagannath (Director of Global Programs at Movement Law Lab based in Florida), take part in a conversation moderated by Wolfgang Kaleck (ECCHR General Secretary). Human rights in times of crises is ECCHR's talk series on resistance and concrete utopias. With our conversations, we want to create the necessary platform for actors from all over the world to discuss and advance global human rights struggles. Human rights are a concrete utopia worth defending. But how to defend them needs to be constantly reinvented. As we find ourselves in a time of profound global transitions, human rights actors need to refer to prevailing inequalities and the underpinning social questions. ECCHR initiated an event series that is now available as a podcast to rethink the struggle for and around human rights. For more information, go to: ecchr.eu/human-rights-in-times-of-crises

# 6 Human rights in times of crises: Feminist movements challenging political transformation Contemporary feminist movements have developed significantly worldwide in ways that speak to their revolutionary potential – including within authoritarian contexts. How can their theories, political content, and organizational forms – from grassroots collective activism to organized strikes – effectively bring about the political transformation and social change needed in our patriarchal societies? What are their demands and visions for the future? What are the difficulties in realizing these visions? What will sustain – and not limit – the movements' more radical visions? What is the importance of acknowledging how discrimination is forged at the intersection of gender, race, class, sexual orientation, religion, and more? In this episode, we are happy to host two highly recommended guests: Marta Dillon is a journalist, writer, lesbian feminist activist, and one of the founders of the #NiUnaMenos grassroots movement in Argentina which campaigns against gender-based of violence. Magdalena Baran-Szoltys is a scholar, co-editor of the book About demands. How feminist activism succeeds, and active in the All-Poland Women's Strike Movement as well as the protests against the Polish abortion law. The conversation is moderated by Wolfgang Kaleck (ECCHR General Secretary). Human rights in times of crises is ECCHR's talk series on resistance and concrete utopias. With our conversations, we want to create the necessary platform for actors from all over the world to discuss and advance global human rights struggles. Human rights are a concrete utopia worth defending. But how to defend them needs to be constantly reinvented. As we find ourselves in a time of profound global transitions, human rights actors need to refer to prevailing inequalities and the underpinning social questions. ECCHR initiated an event series that is now available as a podcast to rethink the struggle for and around human rights. For more information, go to: ecchr.eu/human-rights-in-times-of-crises

#5 Human rights in times of crises: Rethinking (shrinking) spaces in times of crises From widespread surveillance, torture and disappearances to the increased criminalization of protest and restrictive rules on associations, we are unquestionably witnessing a global pushback against civic spaces. The repressive tactics that seek to strip legitimacy and rights from activists and other civic actors is not just to be deplored in authoritarian countries, but also a very real threat in liberal democracies as well. While the phenomenon of shrinking spaces is certainly not new, the intersectional crises we face – from socio-economic inequality to climate change, the global pandemic, the rise of far-right populism, new technologies and the further concentration of wealth and power into fewer hands – demand that we rethink our approaches and strategies. In this episode, our guests Ben Hayes, co-author of Rethinking civic space in an age of intersectional crises: A briefing for funders (2020), Isha Khandelwal, a human rights lawyer who can speak to the situation in India and Wolfgang Kaleck (ECCHR General Secretary) discuss concrete visions for organized forms of resistance. Human rights in times of crises is ECCHR's talk series on resistance and concrete utopias. With our conversations, we want to create the necessary platform for actors from all over the world to discuss and advance global human rights struggles. Human rights are a concrete utopia worth defending. But how to defend them needs to be constantly reinvented. As we find ourselves in a time of profound global transitions, human rights actors need to refer to prevailing inequalities and the underpinning social questions. ECCHR initiated an event series that is now available as a podcast to rethink the struggle for and around human rights. For more information, go to: ecchr.eu/human-rights-in-times-of-crises

#4 Human rights in times of crises: The global right to health and the reality of the COVID-19 vaccine distribution The COVID-19 pandemic has, in unprecedented ways, highlighted the importance of the right to health. The pandemic sharpens the focus on social inequalities between the Global North and the Global South, while the discrepancy between the rich and the poor is also palpable here in Germany: how healthy one is, has much to do with access to wealth. In this episode, Meena Jagannath (Movement Law Lab), Achal Prabhala (AccessIBSA), Andreas Wulf (medico international) and Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR) discuss what needs to change for medicines and vaccines to no longer be treated as commodities, but instead as common goods. They engage on what role can the global health rights movement play when up against big pharma's interests. Human rights in times of crises is ECCHR's talk series on resistance and concrete utopias. With our talks, we want to create the necessary platform for actors from all over the world to discuss and advance global human rights struggles. Human rights are a concrete utopia worth defending. But how to defend them needs to be constantly reinvented. As we find ourselves in a time of profound global transitions, human rights actors need to refer to prevailing inequalities and the underpinning social questions. ECCHR initiated an event series that is now available as a podcast to rethink the struggle for and around human rights. For more information, go to: ecchr.eu/human-rights-in-times-of-crises

#3 Human rights in times of crises: Climate change, environmental degradation and human rights In this episode, César Rodríguez-Garavito (New York University), Arpitha Kodiveri (European University Institute), Luisa Neubauer (Fridays for Future) and Miriam Saage-Maaß (ECCHR Business and Human Rights program director) talk about human rights' potential to fight climate change and environmental degradation. Our guests discuss the role human rights can play in transformation. Human rights can help affected communities and others achieve their demands for sustainable climate policies. They can also force governments and businesses to connect environmental concerns and social justice. Do we also need new human rights approaches to do this? What is the relationship between human rights and environmental rights? And who bears the ultimate legal responsibility for the climate crisis? Human rights in times of crises is ECCHR's talk series on resistance and concrete utopias. With our conversations, we want to create the necessary platform for actors from all over the world to discuss and advance global human rights struggles. Human rights are a concrete utopia worth defending. But how to defend them needs to be constantly reinvented. As we find ourselves in a time of profound global transitions, human rights actors need to refer to prevailing inequalities and the underpinning social questions. ECCHR initiated an event series that is now available as a podcast to rethink the struggle for and around human rights. For more information, go to: ecchr.eu/human-rights-in-times-of-crises

#10 The German colonial period (1884-1920) led and still leads to immense losses of lives, land, resources and sovereignty. To this day, thousands of human remains that were gathered in colonial exploits all over the world can be found in German museums and archives. For many descendants, the continued storage of their ancestors without the consent of the deceased or their families and without proper burial remains a pressing concern. In this episode, ECCHR's Michael Bader and Sarah Imani are joined by activist Mnyaka Sururu Mboro (Berlin Postkolonial) and curator and artist Nathalie Anguezomo Mba Bikoro to discuss the posthumous right to human dignity, the importance of legal restitution, and creating a space for mourning. How can artistic and legal activism support each other in accounting for Germany's violent colonial history and dismantling enduring structures of colonial oppression? Read on for more information and the report We want them back by Isabelle Reimann.

#9 Writer, activist and ECCHR Advisory Board member Priya Basil sits down with ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck to talk about legacies of colonial and postcolonial injustice and German memory culture. They reflect on the questions: what kinds of power can we find in plurality? Which historical narratives do we give due consideration to? And what are the necessary processes of “sustained unlearning” in the decolonization of knowledge?

#8 Eyal Weizman, founding director of research agency Forensic Architecture and ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck speak about the new joint initiative between Forensic Architecture and ECCHR: Investigative Commons. They discuss the advantages of presenting evidence in cultural fora, asking how Forensic Architecture's approaches and ECCHR's legal work can be useful to one another and synthesize different methodological approaches.

#7 Bénédicte Savoy, Kunsthistorikerin und Professorin an der TU Berlin und dem Collège de France spricht mit ECCHR-Generalsekretär Wolfgang Kaleck über Restitutionen von geraubter Kolonialkunst und ihre Kritik zur Debatte über das Humboldt Forum in Berlin.

#1 Fred Ritchin, photographer and dean emeritus of the International Center of Photography, and ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck discuss the role graphic images have in photojournalism to raise political awareness. Looking at iconic historic examples, Ritchin unpacks widely-held ideas about documentary truth, examining how photography can shine light on violence and repression, while also questioning the ways in which this transmission might be limited. For the interactive experience visit: explore.ecchr.eu

#4 This episode is about the debut novel The Blood of the Dawn — La Sangre de la Aurora by Claudia Salazar Jiménez. Salazar Jiménez and Karina Theurer, director of ECCHR's Institute for Legal Intervention, discuss the enduring consequences of gender discrimination, using fiction as a tool for visibility and for sensitizing us to the suffering of others. Please be advised, this episode contains themes of sexual and gender-based violence that some listeners may find distressing. For the interactive experience visit: explore.ecchr.eu

#2 Lebanese performance and video artist Rabih Mroué speaks with ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck about how he treats the impact of violent images in his work. Beginning with his piece PIXELATED REVOLUTION, which uses the moment of the civilian witness capturing violence on their cellphone camera, Mroué lays out a complicated web of connections between the witnessing acts of viewer, victim, and perpetrator. For the interactive experience visit: explore.ecchr.eu

#5 In this episode, curator and cultural historian Mark Sealy and Wolfgang Kaleck, ECCHR general secretary, talk about the challenges of visual representation. They discuss the visuals of violence and the viewers' responsibility and interrogate different ways of dealing with photography produced in colonial and postcolonial contexts. Sealy and Kaleck thereby try to answer the question: How do we deploy these images… and to what purpose? For the interactive experience visit: explore.ecchr.eu

#3 In this episode, we will look at several of Forensic Architecture's investigations and working methodologies in Gaza, Germany, and Cameroon with architect and former deputy director of Forensic Architecture, Christina Varvia, and ECCHR General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck. For the interactive experience visit: explore.ecchr.eu

#6 Guatemalan visual artist Ixmucané Aguilar joins Wolfgang Kaleck, ECCHR general secretary, to discuss her documentary photography practice exploring the enduring effects of German colonialism in Namibia and the genocide against the Herero and Nama. The conversation addresses the fragility of photography as a medium, the risk the photographer runs of imposing their values upon their subject, the importance of collective evidence and recognizing the many nuances of truth. For the interactive experience visit: explore.ecchr.eu