Framing Human Rights

ECCHR

ECCHR’s podcast about activism, art and justice. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) is an independent, non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to enforcing civil and human rights worldwide. Together with those affected and partners worldwide, ECCHR uses legal means to end impunity for those responsible for torture, war crimes, sexual and gender-based violence, corporate exploitation and fortressed borders. Find out more here: www.ecchr.eu and in our Living Open Archive: loa.ecchr.eu

  1. Jul 13

    #16 Overshadowed: Escalation of Settler Attacks and Israels West Bank Annexation

    Listen to the recording of an ECCHR event held on May 4th, 2026: With global attention shifted toward Iran since the U.S.-Israeli attacks, escalations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, particularly in the West Bank, largely remain outside of international focus. Yet, Palestinians face an unprecedented surge of settler attacks, night raids, land grabs, displacement and political measures that further entrench Israel’s illegal occupation and annexation of Palestinian territory. While Israeli settler violence displaced more Palestinians in the first three months of 2026 than in all of 2025, it barely made international headlines. These dynamics are interconnected: shifting geopolitical priorities reduce international attention and create conditions which are exploited by Israeli actors to intensify violence and annexation policies in Palestine with little scrutiny. At the center of the discussion is Dalia Qumsieh, LL.M., Palestinian human rights lawyer and director of the Balasan Initiative for Human Rights based in Palestine. Drawing on her work on the ground, she will provide first-hand insights and legal analysis of recent developments in the West Bank and the Occupied Palestinian Territory as a whole. The event will also address its effects on human rights work in Palestine, and the possibilities and limits for pursuing policy change and accountability under the current political conditions. In conversation with Chantal Meloni, senior legal advisor at ECCHR and professor of international criminal law at the University of Milan, the event situates these developments within broader legal debates while grounding them in Dalia’s extensive research and policy experience in Palestine. Find out more about our work on Palestine

    #16 Overshadowed: Escalation of Settler Attacks and Israels West Bank Annexation
  2. 07/18/2025

    #15 Tödliche Algorithmen: Drohnen und KI in der Kriegsführung

    Drohnen und Künstliche Intelligenz sind aus modernen Kriegen kaum noch wegzudenken. Seit 2001 gehört die permanente Angst vor US-Drohnenangriffen zum Alltag vieler Menschen in Afghanistan oder im Jemen. Im Gazastreifen wird KI in großem Umfang für Luftangriffe, die Überwachung der Bevölkerung und das Aufspüren möglicher Ziele eingesetzt. Auch in der Ukraine beeinflusst die massenhafte Produktion kommerzieller Drohnen, die kostengünstig gegen klassische Militärtechnologie eingesetzt werden, maßgeblich den Kriegsverlauf.  Der Einsatz von KI und Drohnentechnologie verändert grundlegend, wie Kriege geführt werden – und stellt die bisherige Vorherrschaft konventioneller militärischer Macht zunehmend infrage. Die Tötungsmaschinerie wird dabei von riesigen Datenmengen und deren automatisierter Auswertung angetrieben.  Doch wer trägt Verantwortung für gezielte Tötungen, wenn letztlich eine Maschine oder ein Algorithmus über Leben und Tod entscheidet? Wie lässt sich der Einsatz von KI im Einklang mit Menschenrechten und dem Völkerrecht regulieren? Und vor allem: Welche Rechte und Handlungsmöglichkeiten haben die Betroffenen? Im Gespräch mit Anne Schroeter (ECCHR) sind Jutta Weber (Wissenschafts- und Technikforscherin, Philosophin, Medienwissenschaftlerin sowie Professorin für Mediensoziologie an der Universität Paderborn, Leiterin des Forschungsverbunds MEHUCO) und Andreas Schüller (Programmleiter des Bereichs Völkerstraftaten und rechtliche Verantwortung beim ECCHR, wo er u.a. Betroffene US-amerikanischer Drohnenangriffe unterstützt).  Quellen in dieser Folge genannter Berichte:   Yuval Abraham: ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza Future of Life Institute: Slaughterbots Future of Life Institute: Slaughterbots – if human: kill()   Marc Santora, Lara Jakes, Andrew E. Kramer, Marco Hernandez and Liubov Sholudko: A Thousand Snipers in the Sky: The New War in Ukraine Human Rights Watch: A Hazard to Human Rights: Autonomous Weapons Systems and Digital Decision-Making   ECCHR: Ramstein vor Gericht: Deutschlands Rolle bei US-Drohnenangriffen im Jemen

    #15 Tödliche Algorithmen: Drohnen und KI in der Kriegsführung
  3. 06/27/2025

    #14 Migration narratives: Trapped in racism and colonialism?

    We have been raised and operate in an environment in which narrations on “migration” and “migrants” are intrinsically racist and colonial. The terms themselves attempt to eclipse and decontextualise Global South mobility within a deeply imbalanced and exploitative postcolonial global system. This allows policymakers to target racialized people by making their movement, stay and activities irregular through reforms focused on excluding them from legality. Public acceptance of these policies is enabled by an often-non-critical media discourse which further dehumanizes migrants”. These othering narratives run deep and without actively seeking to identify and deconstruct them, they will be reproduced even by those acting for the interest of “migrants”. In these circumstances, can we ever talk of “migrants” and “migration” without perpetuating racism and colonialism? How much do narratives matter in efforts for social justice? In this episode, listen to the live recording of an evening event hosted by Hanaa Hakiki from ECCHR’s Border Justice team as she is joined by guests to explore how deeply narratives on migration are still trapped in racism and colonialism. Together they discuss knowledge and narrative formation, the pseudo-science of constructed identities and categories, as well as the aliveness of colonization coupled with collective amnesia. Thinking beyond the present, the guests talk about the power of reimagining new futures, of reclaiming language and celebrating amazing human connections.   Hanaa’s guests are Aghogho Akpome, Musa Okwonga and Sandra Alloush. Aghogho is a narratives specialist and associate professor from the University of Zululand. Through his project, “The refugee ‘crisis’ and European re-imaginings of Africa”, he has analysed the portrayal of black African refugees by authors, filmmakers and playwrights. Musa is a widely published journalist, the author of a number of books including, “In the End It was All About Love” and he hosts a very popular football podcast and Sandra is a Syrian refugee journalist and documentary filmmaker and vice chair of the European Network Against Racism.

    #14 Migration narratives: Trapped in racism and colonialism?
  4. 12/20/2024

    #12 Staatsräson gegen Grundrechte?

    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.

    #12 Staatsräson gegen Grundrechte?
  5. 03/07/2022

    Corporate power, the role of law and human rights

    Human rights in times of crises #2 Law not only organizes and secures economic profits, it is a crucial factor in creating wealth. 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. 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 Let’s stay in touch! You want to stay up to date on ECCHR’s cases, events and publications? Subscribe to our newsletter.

  6. 03/07/2022

    The concrete utopia of human rights

    Human rights in times of crises #1 Welcome to 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. 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. For more information, go to: ecchr.eu/human-rights-in-times-of-crises Let’s stay in touch! You want to stay up to date on ECCHR’s cases, events and publications? Subscribe to our newsletter.

About

ECCHR’s podcast about activism, art and justice. The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) is an independent, non-profit legal and educational organization dedicated to enforcing civil and human rights worldwide. Together with those affected and partners worldwide, ECCHR uses legal means to end impunity for those responsible for torture, war crimes, sexual and gender-based violence, corporate exploitation and fortressed borders. Find out more here: www.ecchr.eu and in our Living Open Archive: loa.ecchr.eu

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