In 1948, all nations signed onto a document stating that the way a government treats its citizens can be judged by the rest of the world. This December, 2023, is the 75th Anniversary of the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [UDHR].  Joining us for this conversation on the Gebhard's Beer Culture Bar porch are three women who explained the significance of the UDHR.

Jackie Dugard studies how laws impact social change and justice, focusing on power and exclusion. She is a Senior Lecturer at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights – and an Associate Professor at the School of Law of Wits University in Johannesburg. Prof. Dugard is an affiliate at the Center for Human Rights & Global Justice, a co-founder and the first Executive Director of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa.

Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, is a human rights and public health scholar – focusing on preventing sexual and gender-based crimes and slavery. She is an Associate Professor of Clinical Law, and the Director of the Benjamin B. Ferencz Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic and the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights at Yeshiva University. 

Debra Sweet is the director of the Brooklyn-based World Can’t Wait – which protested the Iraq War, exposed the torture of prisoners at Guantanamo and other U.S. prisons, and opposes military recruiters coming to high schools and colleges. 

BONUS: A week before this recording, we spoke with Paul O'Brien -- the head of Amnesty International-USA -- at a benefit concert for Group 11, the NYC affiliate of AI-USA. Paul's comments are edited into this conversation.

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