DeepSummary
The episode starts with a discussion on the United Nations and its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Akila Radhakrishnan, president of the Global Justice Centre, shares her perspective on the role and effectiveness of the UN in upholding human rights. While the UN has played a crucial role in standard-setting and advocating for rights, its response to crises and conflicts has often been inadequate due to political interests and bureaucratic limitations.
Radhakrishnan highlights the UN's failures in addressing human rights violations in Myanmar and contrasts it with the relatively swift response to the Ukraine crisis. She attributes this disparity to the lack of political will and the prioritization of economic and political interests over human rights protection. The UN's structure and decision-making processes are also criticized for their inability to address urgent issues like climate change effectively.
Despite the shortcomings, Radhakrishnan believes that advocacy movements and civil society can strategically utilize the UN system to push for progress on issues like gender equality and LGBTQI+ rights. She emphasizes the need for sustained pressure and solidarity from the public and human rights organizations to hold the UN accountable and drive meaningful change.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- The United Nations has played a crucial role in setting standards and advocating for human rights through various mechanisms and institutions.
- However, the UN's response to crises and conflicts involving human rights violations has often been inadequate due to political interests, bureaucratic limitations, and lack of political will among member states.
- The UN's structure and decision-making processes were not designed to address modern, global challenges like climate change effectively.
- Advocacy movements and civil society organizations can strategically utilize the UN system to push for progress on human rights issues, but sustained public pressure and solidarity are necessary to hold the UN accountable.
- There is a tension between the UN's original focus on peace and security and its parallel role in promoting universal human rights.
- The prioritization of economic and political interests over human rights protection has been a significant factor in the UN's failures to respond to crises in places like Myanmar, Syria, and Yemen.
- The UN's response to the Ukraine crisis demonstrated that when there is sufficient political will, the system can overcome its traditional paralysis and take more assertive actions.
- To make the UN more effective in upholding human rights, reforms may be needed to address its structural limitations and align its mandate with modern global challenges.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “I think the responsibility lies on all of us at different levels, and it lies on the UN on its own, but it's just not what it was meant to do.“ by Akhila Radhakrishnan
- “So again, I'm speaking about it less from is the system performing on its own the way it's meant to be versus how I think those who it's designed to serve have found ways to use the system.“ by Akhila Radhakrishnan
- “And I think the way you're phrasing it makes me think of two questions. Right. One is the UN system that came out of a massive war that had global impact. There were very few places that were actually not affected in one way or the other. By world War two, a system was set up that had a focus on peace and security. In parallel, a system was being developed that looked to achieve universal human rights.“ by Akhila Radhakrishnan
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Episode Information
Strength & Solidarity
Strength & Solidarity
1/12/23
The United Nations, sponsor of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights stands as the most important protector of rights in the world today. Under the authority of its councils, its agencies and its convenings, standards are set, treaties are ratified and complaints are heard. But as much as we have seen vital progress in the definition and assertion of rights, that is only one side of the story. The other, darker truth is that, time and again, people in desperate need of protection are abandoned to the cruel bullying and violence of powerful actors -most often states that are members of the UN. Akila Radhakrishnan, is the director of the Global Justice Center which does a lot of work in the UN’s corridors, fighting for gender equality and justice. She spoke late last year with host Akwe Amosu about why civilians in places like Syria and Myanmar don’t get the same kind of attention as those in Ukraine. And in the Coda, a moving reflection on Seamus Heaney’s poem, Casualty, born of the troubles in Northern Ireland.
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